LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
RIVERSIDE 


AMERICA  IN   THE  WAR 

IV 

OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 


AMERICA   IN   THE   WAR 


OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 


BY 

LAWRENCE  PERRY 

tit 


ILLUSTRATED 


NEW  YORK 

CHARLES  SCRIBNER'S  SONS 
1919 


D581 


COPTBIQHT,    1918,    BT 

CHARLES  SCRIBNER'S  SONS 


Published  October,  1918 


THIS  BOOK 

IS  RESPECTFULLY  DEDICATED  TO  THE 
HON.  JOSEPHUS   DANIELS 

A  JTEWSPAPEB  MAN  WHO  BROUGHT  TO  HIS  TASK  AS  SECRETARY  OF  THB 
NAVY  THOSE  GREAT  QUALITIES  OP  MIND  AND  CHARACTER  WHICH  FITTED 
HIM  TO  MEET  WITH  SUCH  SIGNAL  SUCCESS  THE  IMMENSE  PROBLEMS 
WHICH  THE  WAR  IMPOSED  UPON  HIS  OFFICE.  TO  HIS  FAR-SEEING  VISION, 
HIS  BREADTH  OF  VIEW,  HIS  FREEDOM  FROM  ALL  BIAS,  HIS  JUDGMENT  OF 
MEN  AND  OF  AFFAIRS,  AND  TO  THE  STERN  COURAGE  OF  HIS  CONVICTION* 
ARE  DUE  TO-DAY  THE  MAINTENANCE  OF  THOSE  HIGH  TRADITIONS  OF  TH» 
UNITED  STATES  NAVY  OF  WHICH  AMERICANS  HAVE  EVEB  BEEN  PRODD 


CONTENTS 

FOREWORD 


CHAPTER  I 

FIRST  EXPERIENCE  OF  OUH  NAVY  WITH  THE  GERMAN  U-BOAT 
— ARRIVAL  OF  CAPTAIN  HANS  ROSE  AND  THE  U-53  AT 
NEWPORT — EXPERIENCES  OF  THE  GERMAN  SAILORS  IN 

AN    AMERICAN    PORT DESTRUCTION     OF    MERCHANTMAN 

BY      U-53    OFF    NANTUCKET OUR    DESTROYERS    TO    THE 

RESCUE SCENES     IN     NEWPORT GERMAN     REJOICING 

THE  NAVY  PREPARES  FOR  WAR    . 


CHAPTER  H 

OUR    NAVY    ARMS    AMERICAN    MERCHANT    VESSELS — DEATH 
OF    OUR    FIRST    BLUEJACKET    ON    SERVICE    IN    THE    WAR 

ZONE — VICE-ADMIRAL  SIMS WE   TAKE   OVER   PATROL   OF 

WATERS  OF  WESTERN  HEMISPHERE THE  NAVAL  ADVI- 
SORY BOARD  OF  INVENTIONS — WORK  OF  THIS  BODY — 
OUR  BATTLESHIPS  THE  LARGEST  IN  THE  WORLD — WIDEs 
SPREAD  OPERATIONS 4t 

CHAPTER  m 

FIRST  HOSTILE   CONTACT  BETWEEN  THE  NAVY  AND   THE 

GERMANS — ARMED    GUARDS    ON    MERCHANT    VESSELS 

"CAMPANA"  FIRST  TO  SAIL — DANIELS  REFUSES  OFFER  OF 
MONEY  AWARDS  TO  MEN  WHO  SINK  SUBMARINES "MON- 
GOLIA" SHOWS  GERMANY  HOW  THE  YANKEE  SAILORMAN 

BITES — FIGHT    OF    THE    "  SILVERSHELL  " HEROISM    OF 

GUNNERS  ON  MERCHANT  SHIPS — SINKING  OF  THE  "AN- 
TILLES" — EXPERIENCES  OF  VOYAGERS 59 

vii 


viii  CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  IT 

PASB 

DESTROYERS  ON  GUARD — PREPARATIONS  OP  FLOTILLA  TO 
CROSS  THE  OCEAN — MEETING  THE  "ADRIATIC" FLO- 
TILLA ARRIVES  IN  QTTEENSTOWN — RECEPTION  BY  BRITISH 

COMMANDER    AND     POPULACE "WE     ARE     READY    NOW, 

SIR" ARRIVAL  OF  THE  FAMOUS  CAPTAIN  EVANS  ON  THE 

AMERICAN     FLAG-SHIP — OUR     NAVY     A     WARM-WEATHEB 
NAVY — LOSS  OF  THE   "VACUUM" 79 

CHAPTER  T 

BRITISH  AND  AMERICAN  DESTROYERS  OPERATING  HAND  IN 
HAND — ARRIVAL  OF  NAVAL  COLLIER  " JUPITER" SUC- 
CESSFUL TRIP  OF  TRANSPORTS  BEARING  UNITED  STATES 
SOLDIERS  CONVOYED  BY  NAVAL  VESSELS — ATTACK  ON 

TRANSPORTS   WARDED    OFF   BY   DESTROYERS SECRETARY 

BAKER     THANKS     SECRETARY     DANIELS — VISIT     TO     OUR 
DESTROYER  BASE — ATTITUDE  OF  OFFICERS  TOWARD  MEN 

GENESIS      OF      THE      SUBMARINE — THE      CONFEDERATE 

SUBMARINE   "HUNLEY" 96 

CHAPTER  VI 

ON    A    GERMAN    SUBMARINE — FIGHT    WITH    A    DESTROYER — 

PERISCOPE    HIT RECORD    OF    THE    SUBMARINE    IN    THIS 

WAR — DAWNING     FAILURE     OF     THE     UNDERSEA     BOAT — 

FIGURES     ISSUED     BY    THE     BRITISH    ADMIRALTY PROOF 

OF  DECLINE — OUR  NAVY'S  PART  IN  THIS  ACHIEVEMENT    .       117 


CHAPTER  VII 

HOW  THE  SUBMARINE  IS  BEING  FOUGHT DESTROYERS  THE 

GREAT  MENACE — BUT  NETS,  TOO,  HAVE  PLAYED  THEIR 
PART — MANY  OTHER  DEVICES— GERMAN  OFFICERS  TELL 
OF  EXPERIENCE  ON  A  SUBMARINE  CAUGHT  IN  A  NET — 

CHASERS  PLAY  THEIR  PART THE  DEPTH-BOMB — TRAWLER 

TRICKS — A  CAMOUFLAGED  SCHOONER  WHICH  TURNED  OUT 

TO     BE     A      TARTAR — AIRPLANES GERMAN      SUBMARINE 

MEN   IN   PLAYFUL  MOOD  135 


CONTENTS  ix 


CHAPTER  Vm 

PAGB 

PERILS  AND  TRIUMPHS  OF  SUBMARINE-HUNTING THE  LOSS 

OF  OUR  FIRST  WAR-SHIP,  THE  CONVERTED  GUNBOAT  "AL- 
CEDO" — BRAVERY  OF  CREW "CASSIN"  STRUCK  BY  TOR- 
PEDO BUT  REMAINS  IN  THE  FIGHT LOSS  OF  THE  "  JACOB 

JONES" SINKING  OF  THE  "SAN  DIEGO " — DESTROYERS 

"NICHOLSON"  AND  "FANNING"  CAPTURE  A  SUBMARINE 

WHICH  SINKS CREW  OF  GERMANS  BROUGHT  INTO  PORT 

— THE  POLICY  OF  SILENCE  IN  REGARD  TO  SUBMARINE 
SINKINGS 156 

CHAPTER  IX 

OUR     BATTLESHIP     FLEET GREAT     WORKSHOP     OF     WAR 

PREPARATIONS  FOR  FOREIGN  SERVICE ON  A  BATTLE- 
SHIP DURING  A  SUBMARINE  ATTACK THE  WIRELESS 

THAT  WENT  WRONG THE  TORPEDO  THAT  MISSED — AT- 
TACK ON  SUBMARINE  BASES  OF  DOUBTFUL  EXPEDIENCY — 
WHEN  THE  GERMAN  FLEET  COMES  OUT — ESTABLISHMENT 
OF  STATION  IN  THE  AZORES 181 

CHAPTER  X 

THE  GREAT  ATLANTIC  FERRY  COMPANY.  INCORPORATED, 
BUT  UNLIMITED — FEAT  OF  THE  NAVY  IN  REPAIRING  THE 
STEAMSHIPS  BELONGING  TO  GERMAN  LINES  WHICH  WERE 

INTERNED   AT  BEGINNING  OF  WAR  IN   1914 WELDING 

AND  PATCHING TRIUMPH  OF  OUR  NAVY  WITH  THE  "VA- 

TERLAND" — HER  CONDITION — KNOTS  ADDED  TO  HER 
SPEED — DAMAGE  TO  MOTIVE  POWER  AND  HOW  IT  WAS 
REMEDIED — FAMOUS  GERMAN  LINERS  BROUGHT  UNDER 

OUR   FLAG 198 

CHAPTER  XI 

CAMOUFLAGE — AMERICAN  SYSTEM  OF  LOW  VISIBILITY  AND 
THE  BRITISH  DAZZLE  SYSTEM — AMERICANS  WORKED  OUT 
PRINCIPLES  OF  COLOR  IN  LIGHT  AND  COLOR  IN  PIGMENT 

— BRITISH     SOUGHT     MERELY     TO     CONFUSE     THE     EYE 

BRITISH   SYSTEM  APPLIED   TO   SOME   OF  OUR  TRANSPORTS      217 


x  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  XH 

PAGB 

THE  NAVAL  FLYING  CORPS — WHAT  THE  NAVY  DEPARTMENT 
HAS  ACCOMPLISHED  AND  IS  ACCOMPLISHING  IN  THE  WAY 

OF    AIR-FIGHTING EXPERIENCE     OF     A     NAVAL    ENSIGN 

ADRIFT  IN  THE  ENGLISH  CHANNEL — SEAPLANES  AND 
FLYING  BOATS — SCHOOLS  OF  INSTRUCTION — INSTANCES 
OF  HEROISM 224 

CHAPTER  Xm 

ORGANIZATION  OF  THE  NAVAL  RESERVE  CLASSES — TAKING 
OVER  OF  YACHTS  FOR  NAVAL  SERVICE — WORK  AMONG 
THE  RESERVES  STATIONED  AT  VARIOUS  NAVAL  CENTRES 
— WALTEB  CAMP'S  ACHIEVEMENT 230 

CHAPTER  XTV 

THE  UNITED  STATES  MARINE  CORPS — FIRST  MILITARY 
BRANCH  OF  THE  NATIONAL  SERVICE  TO  BE  SANCTIONED 
BY  CONGRESS — LEAVING  FOR  THE  WAR — SERVICE  OF  THE 
MARINES  IN  VARIOUS  PARTS  OF  THE  GLOBE — DETAILS 
OF  EXPANSION  OF  CORPS — THEIR  PRESENT  SERVICE  ALL 
OVEH  THE  WORLD 260 

CHAPTER  XV 

SCOPE   OF   THE   NAVY*S   WORK   IN   VARIOUS   PARTICULARS 

FOOD — FUEL — NAVAL  CONSULTING  BOARD — PROJECTILE 
FACTORY — EXPENDITURES — INCREASE  OF  PERSONNEL  272 

CHAPTER  XVI 

THE  BEGINNING  OF  THE  END — REPORTS  IN  LONDON  THAT 
SUBMARINES  WERE  WITHDRAWING  TO  THEIR  BASES  TO 
HEAD  A  BATTLE  MOVEMENT  ON  THE  PART  OF  THE  GERMAN 

FLEET HOW  THE  PLAN  WAS  FOILED THE  SURRENDER  OF 

THE  GERMAN  FLEET  TO  THE  COMBINED  BRITISH  AND 
AMERICAN  SQUADRONS — DEPARTURE  OF  THE  AMERICAN 
SQUADRON — WHAT  MIGHT  HAVE  HAPPENED  HAP  THE 
GERMAN  VESSELS  COME  OUT  TO  FIGHT  .  ->  •>  »  i  .  .  ^80 


CONTENTS  xi 


CHAPTER  XVH 

LESSONS    OF    THE    WAK — THE    SUBMARINE    NOT    REALLY    A 
SUBMARINE — FRENCH    TERM    FOR    UNDERSEA    FIGHTER — 

THE  SUCCESS  OF  THE  CONVOY  AGAINST  SUBMERSIBLES 

U-BOATS  NOT  SUCCESSFUL  AGAINST  SURFACE  FIGHTERS 

THEIR  SHORTCOMINGS — WHAT  THE  SUBMARINE  NEEDS  TO 

BE    A    VITAL    FACTOR    IN    SEA    POWER THEIR    SHOWING 

AGAINST    CONVOYED    CRAFT — RECORD    OF    OUR    NAVY    IN 
CONVOYING   AND   PROTECTING   CONVOYS  294 


SECRETARY  DANIEIs's  REPORT 307 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

Atlantic  Fleet  steaming  in  line  of  bearing     ....  Frontispiece 

FACING  PAGE 

Portraits  of  Josephus  Daniels,  Secretary  of  the  Navy, 
Rear-Admiral  Leigh  C.  Palmer,  Vice-Admiral  William 
S.  Sims,  Admiral  Henry  T.  Mayo,  Rear-Admiral  Albert 
Gleaves,  Admiral  William  S.  Benson 22 

Position  of  ships  in  a  convoy 100 

A  U.  S.  submarine  at  full  speed  on  the  surface  of  the  water  130 

A  submarine-chaser 14G 

A  torpedo-destroyer 14" 

Repairing  a  damaged  cylinder  of  a  German  ship  for  fed- 
eral service 208 

Scene  at  an  aviation  station  somewhere  in  America,  show- 
ing fifteen  seaplanes  on  beach  departing  and  arriv- 
ing   234 

Captain's  inspection  at  Naval  Training  Station,  New- 
port, R.  1 246 

American  Marines  who  took  part  in  the  Marne  offensive 

on  parade  hi  Paris,  July  4, 1918 268 


OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

FOREWORD 

GENTLY  rolling  and  heaving  on  the  surge 
of  a  summer  sea  lay  a  mighty  fleet  of 
war-vessels.  There  were  the  capital  ships  of 
the  Atlantic  Fleet,  grim  dreadnoughts  with 
their  superimposed  turrets,  their  bristling  broad- 
sides, their  basket-masts — veritable  islands  of 
steel.  There  were  colliers,  hospital-ships,  de- 
stroyers, patrol-vessels — in  all,  a  tremendous 
demonstration  of  our  sea  power.  Launches 
were  dashing  hither  and  thither  across  the  rest- 
less blue  waters,  signal-flags  were  flashing  from 
mast  and  stay  and  the  wind,  catching  the  sepia 
reek  from  many  a  funnel,  whipped  it  across  a 
league  of  sea. 

On  the  deck  of  the  largest  battleship  were 
gathered  the  officers  of  the  fleet  not  only,  but 
nearly  every  officer  on  active  duty  in  home 

waters.     All  eyes  were  turned  shoreward  and 

i 


2  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

presently  as  a  sharp  succession  of  shots  rang 
out  a  sleek,  narrow  craft  with  gracefully  turned 
bow  came  out  from  the  horizon  and  advanced 
swiftly  toward  the  flag-ship.  It  was  the  Presi- 
dent's yacht,  the  Mayflower,  with  the  President 
of  the  United  States  on  board.  As  the  yacht 
swung  to  a  launch  was  dropped  overside,  the 
gangway  lowered  and  Woodrow  Wilson  stepped 
down  to  the  little  craft,  bobbing  on  the  waves. 
There  was  no  salute,  no  pomp,  no  official  cir- 
cumstance, nor  anything  in  the  way  of  cere- 
mony. The  President  did  not  want  that. 

What  he  did  want  was  to  meet  the  officers 
of  our  navy  and  give  them  a  heart-to-heart 
talk.  He  did  just  that.  At  the  time  it  was 
early  summer  in  1917.  In  the  preceding  April 
a  declaration  that  Germany  had  been  waging 
war  upon  the  United  States  had  been  made  in 
Congress;  war  resolutions  had  been  passed 
and  signed  by  the  President.  This  on  April  6. 
On  April  7  the  Xavy  Department  had  put  into 
effect  plans  that  had  already  been  formulated. 
Much  had  been  done  when  the  President  boarded 
the  flag-ship  of  the  Atlantic  Fleet  that  early 
summer  afternoon.  Some  of  our  destroyers 


FOREWORD  3 

were  already  at  work  in  foreign  waters,  but 
the  bulk  of  our  fighting  force  was  at  home,  pre- 
paring for  conflict.  And  it  was  this  time  that 
the  President  chose  to  meet  those  upon  whom 
the  nation  relied  to  check  the  submarine  and 
to  protect  our  shores  against  the  evil  devices 
of  the  enemy. 

"He  went,"  wrote  a  narrator  of  this  historic 
function,  "directly  to  the  business  in  hand. 
And  the  business  in  hand  was  telling  the  officers 
of  the  navy  of  the  United  States  that  the  sub- 
marine had  to  be  beaten  and  that  they  had 
to  do  it.  He  talked — well,  it  must  still  remain 
a  secret,  but  if  you  have  ever  heard  a  football 
coach  talk  to  his  team  between  the  halves;  if 
you  ever  heard  a  captain  tell  his  men  what  he 
expected  of  them  as  they  stripped  for  action; 
if  you  ever  knew  what  the  fighting  spirit  of 
Woodrow  Wilson  really  is  when  it  is  on  fire — 
then  you  can  visualize  the  whole  scene.  He 
wanted  not  merely  as  good  a  record  from  our 
navy  as  other  navies  had,  he  wanted  a  better 
record.  He  wanted  action,  not  merely  from 
the  gold-braided  admirals,  but  from  the  en- 
signs, too;  and  he  wanted  every  mind  turned 


4  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

to  the  solution  of  the  submarine  question,  and 
regardless  of  rank  and  distinction  he  wanted 
all  to  work  and  fight  for  the  common  object — 
victory. 

"Somebody  suggested  to  the  President  later 
that  the  speech  be  published.  He  declined. 
Most  of  it  wasn't  said  to  be  published.  It  was 
a  direct  talk  from  the  commander-in-chief  of 
the  navy  to  his  men.  It  was  inspiration  itself. 
The  officers  cheered  and  went  away  across  the 
seas.  And  there  they  have  been  in  action  ever 
since,  giving  an  account  of  themselves  that  has 
already  won  the  admiration  of  their  allies  and 
the  involuntary  respect  of  their  foes." 

It  was  under  such  auspices  as  these  that  the 
United  States  Navy  went  forth  to  war.  No 
one  ever  doubted  the  spirit  of  our  fighters  of 
the  sea.  Through  all  the  years,  from  the  time 
when  John  Paul  Jones  bearded  enemy  ships 
in  their  own  waters,  when  Old  Ironsides  belched 
forth  her  well-directed  broadsides  in  many  a 
victorious  encounter;  when  Decatur  showed 
the  pirates  of  Tripoli  that  they  had  a  new  power 
with  which  to  deal;  when  Farragut  damned 
the  torpedoes  in  Mobile  Bay,  and  Dewey  did 


FOREWORD  5 

likewise  in  Manila  Bay;  when  Sampson  and 
Schley  triumphed  at  Santiago,  and  Hobson 
accepted  the  seemingly  fatal  chance  under  the 
guns  of  Morro  Castle — through  all  the  years, 
I  say,  and  through  all  that  they  have  brought 
in  the  way  of  armed  strife,  the  nation  never 
for  one  moment  has  ever  doubted  the  United 
States  Navy. 

And  neither  did  Woodrow  Wilson  doubt. 
He  knew  his  men.  But  he  wanted  to  look  them 
all  in  the  eye  and  tell  them  that  he  knew  their 
mettle,  knew  what  they  could  do,  and  held 
no  thought  of  their  failure.  Every  fighting 
man  fights  the  better  for  an  incident  of  this 
sort. 

Week  by  week  since  that  time  there  has  come 
to  us  from  out  the  grim  North  Sea,  from  the 
Mediterranean  and  the  broad  Atlantic  abun- 
dant testimony,  many  a  story  of  individual 
and  collective  heroism,  of  ships  that  have  waged 
gallant  fights,  of  Americans  who  have  lived 
gallantly,  who  have  died  gloriously — and  above 
all  there  has  come  to  us  the  gratifying  record 
of  reduced  submarine  losses,  as  to  which  there 
is  abundant  testimony — notably  from  the  great 


6  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

maritime  and  naval  power  of  the  world — Great 
Britain — that  our  navy  has  played  a  vital  part 
in  the  diminution  of  the  undersea  terror. 

Less  than  a  year  after  President  Wilson 
boarded  the  flag-ship  of  the  Atlantic  Fleet  our 
navy  had  more  than  150  naval  vessels — battle- 
ships, cruisers,  submarines  and  tenders,  gun- 
boats, coast-guard  cutters,  converted  yachts, 
tugs,  and  numerous  vessels  of  other  types  for 
special  purposes — in  European  waters.  Serv- 
ing on  these  vessels  were  nearly  40,000  men, 
more  than  half  the  strength  of  our  navy  before 
we  entered  the  war — and  this  number  did  not 
include  the  personnel  of  troop-ships,  supply- 
vessels,  armed  guards  for  merchantmen,  signal- 
men, wireless  operators  and  the  like,  who  go 
into  the  war  zone  on  recurrent  trips. 

Submarines  have  been  fought  and  sunk  or 
captured — how  many,  a  wise  naval  policy  bids 
absolute  silence.  Our  antisubmarine  activities 
now  cover  in  war  areas  alone  over  1,000,000 
square  miles  of  sea.  In  a  six-months  period 
one  detachment  of  destroyers  steamed  over 
1,000,000  of  miles  in  the  war  zone,  attacked 
81  submarines,  escorted  717  single  vessels,  par- 


FOREWORD  7 

ticipated  in  86  convoys,  and  spent  one  hundred 
and  fifty  days  at  cea. 

There  have  been  mistakes,  of  course;  there 
have  been  delays  which  have  tried  the  patience 
not  only  of  the  country,  but  of  the  Navy  De- 
partment. But  they  were  inevitable  under  the 
high  pressure  of  affairs  as  they  suddenly  set 
in  when  we  went  to  war.  But  in  looking  back 
over  the  year  and  a  half  of  conflict,  considering 
the  hundreds  of  thousands  of  soldiers  that  our 
navy  has  conducted  in  safety  across  the  in- 
fested Atlantic,  and  the  feats  which  our  fight- 
ers have  performed  in  action,  in  stormy  seas, 
in  rescue  work  and  in  the  long,  weary  grind 
of  daily  routine,  no  American  has  cause  for 
aught  but  pride  in  the  work  our  navy  has 
done. 

There  has  been  more  than  a  sixfold  increase 
in  naval  man  power  and  about  a  fourfold  in- 
crease in  the  number  of  ships  in  service.  When 
present  plans  have  been  carried  out — and  all 
projects  are  proceeding  swiftly — the  United 
States  will  probably  rank  second  to  Britain 
among  naval  Powers  of  the  world.  Training 
facilities  have  increased  on  a  stupendous  scale; 


8  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

we  have  now  various  specialized  schools  for 
seamen  and  officers;  our  industrial  yards  have 
grown  beyond  dreams  and  the  production  of 
ordnance  and  munitions  proceeds  on  a  vast 
scale,  while  in  other  directions  things  have  been 
accomplished  by  the  Navy  Department  which 
will  not  be  known  until  the  war  is  over  and 
the  records  are  open  for  all  to  read. 

But  in  the  meantime  history  has  been  making 
and  facts  have  been  marked  which  give  every 
American  pride.  Praise  from  the  source  of  all 
things  maritime  is  praise  indeed,  and  what 
greater  commendation — better  than  anything 
that  might  be  spoken  or  written — could  be 
desired  than  the  action  of  Admiral  Sir  David 
Beatty,  commander-in-chief  of  the  Grand  Fleet, 
who,  receiving  a  report  not  so  many  months 
ago  that  the  German  High  Seas  Fleet  was  out, 
awarded  the  post  of  honor  in  the  consolidated 
fleet  of  British  and  American  war-vessels  which 
went  forth  to  meet  the  Germans  to  a  division 
of  American  battleships.  This  chivalrous  com- 
pliment on  the  part  of  the  British  commander 
was  no  doubt  designed  as  a  signal  act  of  courtesy, 
but  more,  it  was  born  of  the  confidence  of  a  man 


FOREWORD  9 

who  has  seen  our  navy,  who  had  had  the  most 
complete  opportunities  for  studying  it  and,  as 
a  consequence,  knew  what  it  could  do. 

There  is  nothing  of  chauvinism  in  the  state- 
ment that,  so  far  as  the  submarine  is  concerned, 
our  navy  has  played  a  most  helpful  part  hi 
diminishing  its  ravages,  that  our  fighting  ships 
have  aided  very  materially  in  the  marked 
reduction  in  sinkings  of  merchantmen  as  com- 
pared to  the  number  destroyed  in  the  corre- 
sponding period  before  we  entered  the  war, 
and  in  the  no  less  notable  increase  in  the  number 
of  submarines  captured  or  sunk.  These  facts 
have  not  only  been  made  clear  by  official  Navy 
Department  statements,  but  have  been  at- 
tested to  by  many  British  and  French  Ad- 
miralty and  Government  authorities  and  naval 
commanders. 

"You  doubtless  know,"  wrote  Admiral  Sims 
to  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy  some  time  ago, 
"that  all  of  the  Allies  here  with  whom  I  am 
associated  are  very  much  impressed  by  the 
efforts  now  being  made  by  the  United  States 
Navy  Department  to  oppose  the  submarine 
and  protect  merchant  shipping.  I  am  very 


10  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

glad  to  report  that  our  forces  are  more  than 
coming  up  to  expectations." 

Admiral  Sims  was  modest.  Let  us  quote 
the  message  sent  by  Admiral  Sir  Lewis  Bayly, 
commander-in-chief  of  the  British  naval  forces 
on  the  Irish  coast,  on  the  anniversary  of  the 
arrival  of  our  first  destroyer  flotilla  at  Queens- 
town: 

"On  the  anniversary  of  the  arrival  of  the 
first  United  States  men-of-war  at  Queenstown 
I  wish  to  express  my  deep  gratitude  to  the 
United  States  officers  and  ratings  for  the  skill, 
energy,  and  unfailing  good  nature  which  they 
all  have  consistently  shown  and  which  quali- 
ties have  so  materially  assisted  in  the  war  by 
enabling  ships  of  the  Allied  Powers  to  cross 
the  ocean  in  comparative  freedom.  To  com- 
mand you  is  an  honor,  to  work  with  you  is  a 
pleasure,  to  know  you  is  to  know  the  best  traits 
of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race." 

And  to  Secretary  Daniels,  Sir  Eric  Geddes, 
first  lord  of  the  British  Admiralty,  wrote  in 
part: 

"As  you  know,  we  all  of  us  here  have  great 
admiration  for  your  officers  and  men  and  for 


FOREWORD  11 

the  splendid  help  they  are  giving  in  European 
waters.  Further,  we  find  Admiral  Sims  in- 
valuable in  counsel  and  in  co-operation." 

American  naval  aid  has  been  of  the  greatest 
help  to  the  British  Fleet,  wrote  Archibald 
Hurd,  the  naval  expert,  in  the  Daily  Telegraph, 
London. 

"When  the  war  is  over,"  he  said,  "the  na- 
tion will  form  some  conception  of  the  extent 
of  the  debt  which  we  owe  the  American  Navy 
for  the  manner  in  which  it  has  co-operated, 
not  only  in  connection  with  the  convoy  system, 
but  in  fighting  the  submarines.  If  the  naval 
position  is  improving  to-day,  as  it  is,  it  is  due 
to  the  fact  that  the  British  and  American  fleets 
are  working  in  closest  accord,  supported  by 
an  immense  body  of  skilled  workers  on  both 
sides  of  the  Atlantic,  who  are  turning  out  de- 
stroyers and  other  crafts  for  dealing  with  the 
submarines  as  well  as  mines  and  bombs.  The 
Germans  can  have  a  battle  whenever  they  wan  I 
it.  The  strength  of  the  Grand  Fleet  has  been 
well  maintained.  Some  of  the  finest  battle- 
ships of  the  United  States  Navy  are  now  asso- 
ciated with  it.  They  are  not  only  splendid 


12  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

fighting-ships,  but  they  are  well  officered  and 
manned." 

Here  is  what  Lord  Reading,  the  British  Am- 
bassador to  the  United  States  said  in  the  course 
of  an  address  at  the  Yale  1918  Commence- 
ment: 

"Let  me  say  to  you  on  behalf  of  the  British 
people  what  a  debt  of  gratitude  we  owe  to  your 
navy  for  its  co-operation  with  us.  There  is 
no  finer  spectacle  to  be  seen  at  present  than 
that  complete  and  cordial  co-operation  which 
is  existing  between  your  fleet  and  ours.  They 
work  as  one.  I  always  think  to  myself  and 
hope  that  the  co-operation  of  our  fleets,  of  our 
navies,  is  the  harbinger  of  what  is  to  come  in 
the  future  when  the  war  is  over,  of  that  which 
will  still  continue  then.  Magnificent  is  their 
work,  and  I  glory  always  in  the  thought  that 
an  American  admiral  has  taken  charge  of  the 
British  Fleet  and  the  British  policy,  and  that 
when  the  plans  are  formed  for  an  attack  that 
American  admiral  is  given  the  place  of  honor 
in  our  fleet,  because  we  feel  that  it  is  his  due 
at  this  moment." 

And  finally,   there  is  the  testimony  of  Ad- 


FOREWORD  13 

miral  Sir  RosfJyn  Wemyss,  first  sea  lord  of 
the  British,  concerning  our  effective  aid,  testi- 
mony, by  the  way,  which  enlightens  us  to  some 
extent  upon  British  and  American  methods  of 
co-operation. 

"On  the  broad  lines  of  strategic  policy,"  he 
said,  "complete  unanimity  exists.  Admiral 
Benson  and  Admiral  Mayo  have  both  visited 
us  and  studied  our  naval  plans.  No  officers 
could  have  exhibited  keener  appreciation  of 
the  naval  situation.  I  find  it  difficult  to  ex- 
press the  gratitude  of  the  British  service  to 
these  officers  and  to  Admiral  Sims  for  the  sup- 
port they  have  given  us-  I  am  not  exaggerat- 
ing, or  camouflaging,  to  borrow  a  word  of  the 
moment.  Our  relations  could  not  be  more 
cordial.  The  day-to-day  procedure  is  of  the 
simplest.  Every  morning  I  hold  conference 
with  the  principal  officers  of  the  naval  staff, 
and  Admiral  Sims  is  present  as  the  representa- 
tive of  the  United  States  Fleet,  joining  freely 
in  the  discussion  of  the  various  subjects  which 
arise.  I  need  not  add  that  I  keenly  appreciate 
his  help.  At  sea  the  same  spirit  of  cordial  co- 
operation exists — extremely  cordial.  I  should 


14  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

like  to  say  we  have,  fortunately,  a  common 
language  and  common  traditions,  which  have 
done  much  to  assist  us  in  working  together. 

"The  American  officers  and  men  are  first- 
rate.  It  is  impossible  to  pay  too  high  a  tribute 
to  the  manner  in  which  they  settled  down  to 
this  job  of  submarine  hunting,  and  to  the  in- 
telligence, resource,  and  courage  which  they 
have  exhibited.  They  came  on  the  scene  at 
the  opportune  moment.  Our  men  had  been 
in  the  mill  for  many  weary  months.  Possibly 
the  American  people,  so  far  removed  from  the 
main  theatre  of  the  war,  can  hardly  appreciate 
what  it  meant  when  these  American  officers 
and  men  crossed  the  Atlantic.  They  have  been 
splendid,  simply  splendid.  I  have  seen  a  number 
of  the  destroyers  and  conversed  with  a  large 
number  of  officers.  I  also  have  had  many  re- 
ports and  am  not  speaking  of  the  aid  the  United 
States  has  rendered  without  full  knowledge. 

"Not  only  are  the  vessels  well  constructed 
and  the  officers  and  men  thoroughly  competent, 
but  the  organization  is  admirable.  It  was  no 
slight  matter  for  so  many  ships  to  come  3,000 
miles  across  the  Atlantic  to  fight  in  European 


FOREWORD  15 

waters.  The  decision  raised  several  complicated 
problems  in  connection  with  supples,  but  those 
problems  have  been  surmounted  with  success. 
There  has  never  been  anything  like  it  before 
in  the  history  of  naval  warfare,  and  the  develop- 
ment of  the  steam-engine  has  rendered  such 
co-operation  more  difficult  than  ever  before, 
because  the  modern  man-of-war  is  dependent 
on  a  constant  stream  of  supplies  of  fuel,  stores, 
food,  and  other  things,  and  is  need  of  frequent 
repairs." 

In  addition  to  doing  signally  effective  work 
in  hunting  down  the  submarine,  and  in  pro- 
tecting ocean  commerce,  our  war-ships  have 
relieved  England  and  France  of  the  necessity 
of  looking  out  for  raiders  and  submarines  in 
South  Atlantic  waters;  we  have  sent  to  the 
Grand  Fleet,  among  other  craft,  a  squadron 
of  dreadnoughts  and  superdreadnoughts  whose 
aggregate  gun-power  will  tell  whenever  the 
German  sea-fighters  decide  to  risk  battle  in  the 
North  Sea;  war-ships  are  convoying  transports 
laden  writh  thousands  of  men — more  than  a  mil- 
lion and  a  half  fighting  men  will  be  on  French 
and  English  soil  before  these  words  are  read — • 


16  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

escorting  ocean  liners  and  convoying  merchant 
vessels,  whik  in  divers  other  ways  the  navy  of 
this  country  is  playing  its  dominant  part  in 
the  fight  against  German  ruthiessness. 

When  the  Emergency  Fleet  Corporation  an- 
nounced its  programme  of  building  ships  the 
Navy  Department  at  once  began  its  prepara- 
tions for  providing  armed  guards  for  these 
vessels  as  soon  as  they  were  commissioned  for 
transatlantic  service.  Thousands  of  men  were 
placed  in  training  for  this  purpose  and  detailed 
instructions  were  prepared  and  issued  to  the 
Shipping  Board  and  to  all  ship-building  com- 
panies to  enable  them  to  prepare  their  vessels 
while  building  with  gun-emplacements,  armed- 
guard  quarters,  and  the  like,  so  that  when  the 
vessels  were  completed  there  would  be  as  little 
delay  as  possible  in  furnishing  them.  In  all 
details  relating  to  the  protection  of  these  mer- 
chant vessels  the  navy  has  played  a  most  vital 
part  and  not  least  of  the  laurels  accruing  to 
this  department  of  the  government  war  service 
for  work  in  the  present  struggle  have  been 
those  won  by  naval  gun  crews  on  cargo-laden 
ships. 


FOREWORD  17 

The  administrative  work  in  connection  with 
vessels  of  this  class  is  a  not  inconsiderable  task 
of  itself.  The  romance  of  the  armed  merchant- 
men affords  material  for  many  a  vivid  page, 
and  when  in  its  proper  place  in  this  volume  it 
is  set  forth  somewhat  in  detail  the  reader  will 
grasp — if  he  has  not  already  done  so  through 
perusal  of  the  daily  press — the  fact  that  all  the 
glory  of  naval  service  in  this  war  has  not  re- 
sided within  the  turrets  of  the  dreadnought 
nor  on  the  deck  of  destroyer  or  patrol-vessel. 

The  navy  organized  and  has  operated  the 
large  transport  service  required  to  take  our 
soldiers  overseas.  At  this  writing  not  a  single 
transport  has  been  lost  on  the  way  to  France, 
and  but  three  have  been  sunk  returning.  Trans- 
ports bound  for  France  have  been  attacked  by 
submarines  time  and  again,  and,  in  fact,  our 
first  transport  convoy  was  unsuccessfully  as- 
sailed, as  has  been  the  case  with  other  con- 
voys throughout  the  past  twelve  months.  In 
the  case  of  the  Tuscania,  sunk  by  a  torpedo 
while  eastbound  with  American  soldiers,  that 
vessel  was  under  British  convoy,  a  fact  which 
implies  no  discredit  upon  the  British  Navy, 


18  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

since  it  is  beyond  the  powers  of  human  ingenuity 
so  to  protect  the  ocean  lanes  as  to  warrant  as- 
surance that  a  vessel,  however  well  convoyed, 
shall  be  totally  immune  from  the  lurking  sub- 
marine. ,  Again,  it  should  be  remembered,  that 
the  British  have  taken  about  sixty  per  cent  of 
our  expeditionary  forces  across  the  ocean. 

In  the  line  of  expanding  ship-building  facili- 
ties the  Navy  Department  has  in  the  past  year 
carried  on  vigorously  a  stupendous  policy  of 
increased  shipyard  capacity,  which  upon  com- 
pletion will  see  this  country  able  to  have  in 
course  of  construction  on  the  ways  at  one  time 
sixteen  war- vessels  of  which  seven  will  be  battle- 
ships. 

In  January,  1917,  three  months  before  we 
went  to  war,  the  Navy  Department's  facilities 
for  ship-building  were:  Boston,  one  auxiliary 
vessel;  New  York,  one  battleship;  Philadel- 
phia, one  auxiliary;  Norfolk,  one  destroyer; 
Charleston,  one  gunboat;  Mare  Island,  one 
battleship  and  one  destroyer.  At  the  present 
time  the  Brooklyn  Navy  Yard  has  a  way  for 
the  building  of  dreadnoughts,  and  one  for  the 
building  of  battleships.  At  Philadelphia  two 


FOREWORD  19 

ways  are  being  built  for  large  battleships  and 
battle-cruisers.  Norfolk,  in  addition  to  her 
one  way  for  destroyers,  will  soon  have  a  way 
for  battleships.  Charleston  will  have  five 
ways  for  destroyers.  The  navy-yard  at  Puget 
Sound  will  soon  have  a  way  for  one  battle- 
ship. 

The  building  plans  include  not  only  the  con- 
struction of  ways,  but  also  machine,  electrical, 
structural,  forge,  and  pattern  shops  in  addi- 
tion to  foundries,  storehouses,  railroad-tracks, 
and  power-plants.  This  increase  in  building 
capacity  will  enable  the  government  through 
enhanced  repair  facilities  to  handle  all  repair 
and  building  work  for  the  fleet  as  well  as  such 
for  the  new  merchant  marine.  Three  naval 
docks  which  will  be  capable  of  handling  the 
largest  ships  in  the  world  are  approaching  com- 
pletion while  private  companies  are  building 
similar  docks  under  encouragement  of  the 
government  in  the  shape  of  annual  guarantees 
of  dockage. 

An  idea  of  what  has  been  accomplished  with 
respect  to  ship-building  is  gained  through  the 
statement  of  Secretary  Daniels,  June  2,  that 


20  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

his  department  had  established  a  new  world's 
record  for  rapid  ship  construction  by  the  launch- 
ing of  the  torpedo-boat  destroyer  Ward,  at 
the  Mare  Island  Navy  Yard,  California,  seven- 
teen and  a  half  days  after  the  keel  was  laid. 
The  previous  record  was  established  shortly 
before  that  date  at  Camden,  New  Jersey,  where 
the  freighter  Tuckahoe  was  launched  twenty- 
seven  days  and  three  hours  after  the  laying 
of  the  keel. 

In  1898,  twenty  years  ago,  the  first  sixteen 
destroyers  were  authorized  for  the  United  States 
Navy.  These  were  less  than  half  the  size  of 
our  present  destroyers,  and  yet  their  average 
time  from  the  laying  of  the  keels  to  launching 
was  almost  exactly  two  years.  During  the  ten 
years  prior  to  our  entrance  into  the  present 
war  Congress  authorized  an  average  of  five  or 
six  destroyers  a  year.  The  records  show  that 
in  the  construction  of  these  the  average  time 
on  the  ways  was  almost  exactly  eleven  months, 
the  total  time  of  construction  being  about  two 
years. 

The  average  time  on  the  ways  of  the  numerous 
destroyers  launched  in  1917-18,  is  but  little 


JOSEPHUS  DANIELS, 
SECRETARY  OF  THE  NAVY 


REAR-ADMIRAL  ALBERT  CLEAVES. 


FOREWORD  21 

over  five  months,  this  being  somewhat  less 
than  half  the  average  time  under  peace  condi- 
tions. As  many  as  400  men  were  employed  in 
work  on  the  Ward,  and  in  preparing  to  estab- 
lish the  record  as  much  structural  work  as  pos- 
sible was  prepared  in  advance,  ready  for  erec- 
tion and  assembling  before  the  keel  was  laid. 
While  this  achievement  will  no  doubt  remain 
unmatched  for  some  time,  it  will  none  the  less 
stand  significant  as  marking  a  condition  that 
is  general  in  naval  construction  throughout 
the  country,  this  applying  to  battleships  and 
other  craft  as  well  as  to  destroyers. 

In  short,  under  the  constructive  leadership 
of  Josephus  Daniels,  the  navy  is  doing  its  enor- 
mous bit  in  a  convincing  manner.  It  took  the 
personnel  of  the  navy — that  is,  the  commissioned 
personnel — a  long  time  to  discover  the  real 
character  and  personality  of  Mr.  Daniels.  It 
is  not  too  much  to  say  that  many  of  them  were 
hostile  to  his  administration.  But  the  war 
proved  him  for  what  he  was.  With  adminis- 
trative capacity  of  his  own,  sound  judgment,, 
and  a  clear  brain,  he  was  big  enough  to  know 
that  there  were  many  things  that  had  better 


22  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

be  left  to  the  highly  trained  technicians  under 
his  command. 

And  so  in  large  measure  he  delegated  many 
actual  tasks  of  administration  to  the  most  com- 
petent officers  in  the  navy,  officers  selected 
for  special  tasks  without  fear  or  favor.  Mr. 
Daniels  will  receive,  as  he  is  now  receiving, 
credit  for  their  work;  but  he  in  turn  is  earnest 
in  his  desire  so  to  speak  and  act,  that  this  credit 
will  be  duly  and  properly  shared  by  those  en- 
titled thereto.  He  has  disregarded  seniority 
and  other  departmental,  not  to  say  political 
factors,  in  choosing  the  right  men  to  head  the 
various  bureaus  of  the  Navy  Department  and 
the  various  units  of  the  fleet. 

He  has  favored  the  young  officer,  and  to-day 
it  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  youth  holds  the 
power  in  the  navy;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  he 
has  been  quick  to  recognize  and  to  employ  in 
high  places  the  qualities  that  reside  in  officers 
who  with  years  of  experience,  combine  endur- 
ing zest  and  broad  points  of  view. 

In  all,  Secretary  Daniels  exemplifies  the  spirit 
of  the  American  Navy — and  the  spirit  of  our 
navy  is  altogether  consonant  with  our  national 


FOREWORD  23 

tradition — to  get  into  the  fight  and  keep  fight- 
ing. He  has  been  the  sponsor  for  a  naval  in- 
crease which  sees  our  active  roster  increased 
from  56,000  men  in  April,  1917,  to  more  than 
400,000  at  the  present  time,  and  our  fighting 
ships  increased,  as  already  pointed  out,  four- 
fold. 

And  while  our  vessels  and  our  fighting  men 
are  playing  their  part  on  the  high  seas  the  coun- 
sel of  our  trained  technical  experts  is  eagerly 
sought  and  constantly  employed  by  the  ad- 
miralties of  the  Allied  nations.  When  the  naval 
history  of  this  war  is  given  to  the  world  in  freest 
detail  we  shall  know  just  how  much  our  officers 
have  had  to  do  with  the  strategy  of  operations 
adopted  by  all  the  Entente  navies.  It  is  not 
violating  either  ethics  or  confidence,  however, 
to  say  that  our  influence  in  this  respect  has 
been  very  potent  and  that  the  names  of  Ad- 
miral William  S.  Benson,  chief  of  operations; 
Vice-Admiral  William  S.  Sims,  Admiral  Henry 
T.  Mayo,  and  Rear-Admiral  Albert  Gleaves 
are  already  names  that  are  to  be  reckoned  with 
abroad  as  at  home. 

As   for   incidents   reflecting   gloriously   upon 


24  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

the  morale  of  our  officers  and  men,  the  navy 
has  already  its  growing  share.  There  is  the 
destroyer  Cassin  struck  by  a  torpedo  and  se- 
riously crippled,  but  refusing  to  return  to  port 
as  long  as  there  appeared  to  be  a  chance  of  en- 
gaging the  submarine  that  had  attacked  her. 
There  is  Lieutenant  Clarence  C.  Thomas,  com- 
mander of  the  gun  crew  on  the  oil-ship  Vacuum. 
When  the  ship  was  sunk  he  cheered  his  freezing 
men  tossing  on  an  icy  sea  in  an  open  boat  far 
from  land,  until  he  at  length  perished,  his  last 
words  those  of  encouragement.  There  is  Lieu- 
tenant S.  F.  Kalk,  who  swam  from  raft  to  raft 
encouraging  and  directing  the  survivors  of  the 
destroyer  Jacob  Janes  after  a  torpedo  had  sent 
that  vessel  to  the  bottom.  There  are  those 
two  gunners  on  the  transport  Antilles  who  stood 
serving  their  gun  until  the  ship  sank  and  carried 
them  down.  There  is  the  freighter  Silver-Shell 
whose  gun  crew  fought  and  sank  the  submarine 
that  attacked  the  ship,  and  the  gun  crews  of 
the  Mareni,  the  Campana,  and  the  J.  L.  Lucken- 
back — indomitable  heroes  all.  There  is  Osmond 
Kelly  Ingram,  who  saved  the  Cassin  and  lost 
liis  life.  There  is  the  glorious  page  contributed 


FOREWORD  25 

to  our  naval  annals,  by  the  officers  and  crew 
of  the  San  Diego.  History  indeed  is  in  the 
making — history  that  Americans  are  proud  to 
read. 

In  all  that  has  been  written  in  this  foreword 
the  design  has  been  merely  to  sketch,  to  out- 
line some  of  the  larger  achievements  of  the 
United  States  Navy  in  this  war.  In  chapters 
to  come  our  navy's  course  from  peace  into  war 
will  be  followed  as  closely  as  the  restrictions  of 
a  wise  censorship  will  permit. 


CHAPTER  I 

FIRST  EXPERIENCE  OF  OUR  NAVY  WITH  THE  GERMAN 
U-BOAT — ARRIVAL,  OF  CAPTAIN  HANS  ROSE  AND  THE 
U-53  AT  NEWPORT — EXPERIENCES  OF  THE  GERMAN 
SAILORS  LN  AN  AMERICAN  PORT — DESTRUCTION  OF 
MERCHANTMEN  BY  U-53  OFF  NANTUCKET — OUR  DE- 
STROYERS TO  THE  RESCUE — SCENES  IN  NEWPORT — GER- 
MAN REJOICING — THE  NAVY  PREPARES  FOR  WAR 

HOW  many  of  us  who  love  the  sea  and  have 
followed  it  to  greater  or  less  extent  in  the 
way  of  business  or  pleasure  have  in  the  past 
echoed  those  famous  lines  of  Rudyard  Kipling: 

Good-bye  Romance ! '  the  skipper  said. 
He  vanished  with  the  coal  we  burn." 

And  how  often  since  the  setting  in  of  the 
grim  years  beginning  with  August  of  1914  have 
we  had  occasion  to  appreciate  the  fact  that  of 
all  the  romance  of  the  past  ages  the  like  to  that 
which  has  been  spread  upon  the  pages  of  his- 
tory in  the  past  four  years  was  never  written 
nor  imagined.  Week  after  week  there  has  come 
to  us  from  out  the  veil  of  the  maritime  spaces  in- 
cidents dramatic,  mysterious,  romantic,  tragic, 
hideous. 

26 


ROMANCE  AT  SEA  27 

Great  transatlantic  greyhounds  whose  names 

evoke   so   many   memories   of   holiday   jaunts 

< 

across  the  great  ocean  slip  out  of  port  and  are 
seen  no  more  of  men.  Vessels  arrive  at  the  ports 
of  the  seven  seas  with  tales  of  wanton  murder, 
of  hairbreadth  escapes.  Boat  crews  drift  for 
days  at  the  mercy  of  the  seas  and  are  finally 
rescued  or  perish  man  by  man.  The  square- 
rigged  ship  once  more  rears  its  towering  masts 
and  yards  above  the  funnels  of  merchant  ship- 
ping; schooners  brave  the  deep  seas  which 
never  before  dared  leave  the  coastwise  zones; 
and  the  sands  of  the  West  Indies  have  been 
robbed  of  abandoned  hulks  to  the  end  that  the 
diminishing  craft  of  the  seas  be  replaced.  And 
with  all  there  are  stories  of  gallantry,  of  sea 
rescues,  of  moving  incidents  wherein  there  is 
nothing  but  good  to  tell  of  the  human  animal. 
Would  that  it  were  all  so.  But  it  is  not.  The 
ruthlessness  of  the  German  rears  itself  like  a 
sordid  shadow  against  the  background  of  Anglo- 
Saxon  and  Latin  gallantry  and  heroism — a  di- 
minishing shadow,  thank  God,  and  thank,  also, 
the  navy  of  Great  Britain  and  of  the  United 
States. 


28  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

For  more  than  two  years  and  a  half  of  sea 
tragedy  the  men  of  our  navy  played  the  part 
of  lookers-on.  Closely  following  the  sequence 
of  events  with  the  interest  of  men  of  science, 
there  was  a  variety  of  opinion  as  to  the  de- 
sirability of  our  playing  a  part  in  the  epic 
struggle  on  the  salt  water.  There  were  officers 
who  considered  that  we  were  well  out  of  it; 
there  were  more  who  felt  that  our  part  in  the 
struggle  which  the  Allied  nations  were  waging 
should  be  borne  without  delay.  But  whatever 
existed  in  the  way  of  opinion  there  was  no  lack 
of  unanimity  in  the  minute  study  which  our 
commissioned  officers  gave  to  the  problems  in 
naval  warfare  and  related  interests  which  were 
constantly  arising  hi  European  waters. 

It  was  not,  however,  until  October  of  1916 
that  the  American  Navy  came  into  very  close 
relationship  with  the  submarine  activities  of 
the  German  Admiralty.  The  morning  of 
October  7  of  that  year  was  one  of  those  days 
for  which  Newport  is  famous — a  tangy  breeze 
sweeping  over  the  gorse-clad  cliffs  and  dunes 
that  mark  the  environment  of  Bateman's  Point 
the  old  yellow  light-ship  which  keeps  watch 


VISIT  OF  U-53  29 

and  ward  over  the  Brenton  reefs  rising  and 
falling  on  a  cobalt  sea.  From  out  of  the  sea- 
ward mists  there  came  shortly  before  ten 
o'clock  a  low-lying  craft  which  was  instantly 
picked  out  by  the  men  of  the  light-ship  as  a 
submarine,  an  American  submarine.  There  is 
a  station  for  them  hi  Newport  Harbor,  and 
submersible  boats  of  our  navy  are  to  be  found 
there  at  all  times. 

But  as  the  men  watched  they  picked  up  on 
the  staff  at  the  stern  of  the  incoming  craft  the 
Royal  German  ensign.  A  German  submarine! 
Be  assured  that  enough  interest  in  German 
craft  of  the  sort  had  been  aroused  in  the  two 
years  and  eight  months  of  war  to  insure  the 
visitor  that  welcome  which  is  born  of  intense 
interest.  The  submarine,  the  U-53,  held  over 
toward  Beaver  Tail  and  then  swung  into  the 
narrow  harbor  entrance,  finally  coming  to 
anchor  off  Goat  Island.  The  commander,  Cap- 
tain Hans  Rose,  went  ashore  in  a  skiff  and  paid 
an  official  visit  first  to  Rear-Admiral  Austin 
M.  Knight,  commander  of  the  Newport  Naval 
District,  and  then  to  Rear-Admiral  Albert 
Gleaves,  chief  of  our  destroyer  flotilla. 


30  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

Subsequent  testimony  of  that  German  com- 
mander was  that  the  American  naval  officers 
appeared  somewhat  embarrassed  at  the  visit, 
suggesting  men  who  were  confronted  by  a  situa- 
tion which  they  were  not  certain  how  to  handle. 
The  statement  of  the  German  officer  had  a  hu- 
morous sound  and  may  have  been  humorously 
intended.  In  any  event,  Admiral  Knight  and 
Admiral  Gleaves  were  very  polite,  and  in  due 
course  paid  the  Germans  the  courtesy  of  a  re- 
turn visit.  And  while  the  submarine  lay  in 
the  harbor  the  crew  came  ashore  and  were 
treated  to  beer  by  the  American  sailors,  while 
crowds  of  curious  were  admitted  aboard  the 
submersible  and  shown  about  with  the  most 
open  courtesy. 

Captain  Rose  said  he  had  come  to  deliver 
a  letter  to  Count  von  Bernstorff,  the  German 
Ambassador,  but  such  a  mission  seemed  so 
trivial  that  rumor  as  to  the  real  intentions  of 
the  craft  was  rife  throughout  the  entire  coun- 
try. There  were  suspicions  that  she  had  put 
in  for  fuel,  or  ammunition,  or  supplies.  But 
nothing  to  justify  these  thoughts  occurred.  The 
U-53  Tiung  around  through  the  daylight  hours, 


KANSAN  COMPLAINS  31 

and  at  sunset,  with  a  farewell  salute,  put  to  sea. 

Did  our  naval  officers  think  this  was  the  last 
of  her?  Possibly,  but  probably  not.  They 
knew  enough  of  the  Germans  to  realize,  or  to 
suspect,  that  their  minds  held  little  thought 
those  days  of  social  amenities  and  that  such 
calls  as  were  made  upon  neutrals  contained 
motives  which,  while  hidden,  were  none  the  less 
definite. 

The  night  brought  forth  nothing,  however, 
and  the  Navy  Department  was  beginning  to 
feel  that  perhaps  after  all  the  U-53  was  well 
on  her  way  to  Germany,  when  early  the  fol- 
lowing morning  there  came  to  the  radio-station 
at  Newport  an  indignant  message  from  Cap- 
tain Smith  of  the  Hawaiian-American  liner 
Kansan.  He  asked  to  know  why  he  had  been 
stopped  and  questioned  by  a  German  submarine 
which  had  halted  him  in  the  vicinity  of  the 
Nan  tucket  light-ship  at  5.30  o'clock  that  morn- 
ing. He  added  that  after  he  had  convinced  the 
submarine  commander  as  to  the  nationality  of 
his  ship,  he  was  permitted  to  proceed. 

This  looked  like  business,  and  Newport  be- 
came certain  of  this  when  shortly  after  noon 


32  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

came  a  radio  containing  advices  as  to  the  sink- 
ing of  the  steamship  West  Point  off  Nantucket. 
Then  at  intervals  up  to  midnight  came  other 
messages  telling  of  the  sinking  of  other  vessels 
until  the  victims  of  the  undersea  craft  num- 
bered four  British,  a  Dutch,  and  a  Scandinavian 
vessel,  one  of  them,  the  Halifax  liner  Stephana, 
a  passenger- vessel,  with  Americans  on  board. 
Reports  of  vessels  torpedoed,  of  open  boats 
containing  survivors  afloat  on  the  sea  followed 
one  another  swiftly  until  not  only  Newport 
but  the  entire  country  was  aroused. 

Admiral  Knight  and  Admiral  Gleaves,  who 
had  been  keeping  the  Navy  Department  at 
Washington  in  touch  with  every  phase  of  the 
situation,  beginning  with  the  arrival  of  the  U-53 
the  preceding  day,  lost  no  time  in  sending 
destroyers  forth  to  the  rescue,  while  already 
there  was  the  cheering  word  that  the  destroyer 
Balch  was  on  the  scene  and  engaged  in  rescue 
work. 

The  departure  of  the  destroyers  was  a  spec- 
tacle that  brought  thousands  of  men,  women, 
and  children  of  Newport  to  the  points  of  van- 
tage along  the  shore  or  to  small  craft  of  all  sorts 


DESTROYERS  TO  RESCUE  33 

in  which  they  kept  as  close  to  the  destroyers, 
preparing  for  their  seaward  flight,  as  they  could. 
It  was  Sunday,  a  day  when  crowds  were  at 
leisure,  but  it  was  also  a  day  when  many  of 
the  officers  and  crew  of  the  flotilla  were  on  shore- 
leave.  They  were  summoned  from  all  points, 
however,  and  within  a  short  time  after  the  first 
call  for  help  had  been  received  the  Jarvis,  with 
Lieutenant  L.  P.  Davis  in  command,  was  speed- 
ing to  sea  at  the  rate  ordered  by  Admiral 
Gleaves,  thirty-one  knots  an  hour. 

Inside  half  an  hour  the  other  destroyers  shot 
out  to  sea  at  the  same  speed  as  the  Jarvis  while 
the  spectators  cheered  them,  and  such  as  were 
in  small  boats  followed  until  the  speeding  craft 
had  disappeared.  There  was  the  Drayton — 
Lieutenant  Bagley,  who  later  was  to  know  the 
venom  of  the  German  submarine — the  Erics- 
son, Lieutenant-Commander  W.  S.  Miller;  the 
O'Brien,  Lieutenant-Commander  C.  E.  Court- 
ney; the  Benham,  Lieutenant-Commander  J. 
B.  Gay;  the  Cassin,  Lieutenant-Commander 
Vernou;  the  McCaU,  Lieutenant  Stewart;  the 
Porter,  Lieutenant-Commander  W.  K.  Wort- 
man;  the  Fanning,  Lieutenant  Austin;  the 


34  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

Paulding,  Lieutenant  Douglas  Howard;  the 
Winslow,  Lieutenant-Commander  Nichols;  the 
Alwyn,  Lieutenant-Commander  John  C.  Fre- 
mont; the  Gushing,  Lieutenant  Kettinger;  the 
Cummings,  Lieutenant-Commander  G.  F.  Neal; 
the  Conyngham,  Lieutenant-Commander  A.  W. 
Johnson,  and  the  mother  ship,  Melville,  Com- 
mander H.  B.  Price. 

Soon  after  the  destroyers  had  passed  into 
the  Atlantic  there  came  a  wireless  message 
saying  that  twenty  of  the  crew  of  the  British 
steamship  Strathdean  had  been  taken  on  board 
the  Nantucket  light-ship.  Admiral  Gleaves 
directed  the  movement  of  his  destroyers  from 
the  radio-room  on  the  flag-ship.  He  figured 
that  the  run  was  about  a  hundred  miles.  There 
was  a  heavy  sea  running  and  a  strong  south- 
west wind.  There  was  a  mist  on  the  ocean. 
It  was  explained  by  the  naval  authorities  that 
the  destroyers  were  sent  out  purely  on  a  mis- 
sion of  rescue,  and  nothing  was  said  as  to  any 
instructions  regarding  the  enforcement  of  in- 
ternational law.  None  the  less  it  was  assumed, 
and  may  now  be  assumed,  that  something  was 
said  to  the  destroyer  commanders  with  regard 


OUR  NEUTRALITY  OBSERVED  35 

to  the  three-mile  limit.  But  as  to  that  we  know 
no  more  to-day  than  at  the  time. 

Suffice  to  say  that  the  destroyers  arrived  in 

time  not  only  to  wander  about  the  ocean  seek- 

k^ 
ing  survivors  in  the  light  of  a  beautiful  hunter's 

moon,  but  in  time  to  witness  the  torpedoing 
of  at  least  two  merchantmen;  the  submarine 
commander,  it  is  said,  advising  our  war-ship 
commanders  to  move  to  certain  locations  so 
as  not  to  be  hit  by  his  shells  and  torpedoes. 

Eventually  the  destroyer  flotilla  returned 
with  their  loads  of  survivors  and  with  com- 
plete details  of  the  operations  of  the  U-53  and, 
according  to  belief,  of  another  submarine  not 
designated.  It  appeared  that  the  Germans 
were  scrupulous  in  observing  our  neutrality, 
that  their  operations  were  conducted  without 
the  three-mile  limit,  and  that  opportunities 
were  given  crews  and  passengers  to  leave  the 
doomed  ships.  There  was  nothing  our  de- 
stroyer commanders  could  do.  Even  the  most 
hot-headed  commander  must  have  felt  the 
steel  withes  of  neutral  obligation  which  held 
him  inactive  while  the  submarine  plied  its  deadly 
work.  There  was,  of  course,  nothing  else  to 


36  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

do — except  to  carry  on  the  humanitarian  work 
of  rescuing  victims  of  the  U  boat  or  boats,  as 
the  case  might  have  been. 

Later,  it  was  given  to  many  of  the  craft  which 
set  forth  that  October  afternoon  to  engage  in 
their  service  to  humanity,  to  cross  the  seas 
and  to  meet  the  submarine  where  it  lurked  in 
the  Irish  Sea,  the  North  Sea,  the  English 
Channel,  and  the  Mediterranean.  One  of  them, 
the  Cassin  was  later  to  be  struck — but  not 
sunk — by  a  torpedo  off  the  coast  of  England, 
while  the  Fanning,  in  company  with  the  Nichol- 
son, had  full  opportunity  of  paying  off  the  score 
which  most  naval  officers  felt  had  been  incurred 
when  the  U-53  and  her  alleged  companion  in- 
vaded American  waters  and  sullied  them  with 
the  foul  deeds  that  had  so  long  stained  the  clean 
seas  of  Europe. 

German  diplomats  were  enthusiastic  over 
the  exploits  of  their  craft.  "The  U-53  and 
other  German  submarines,  if  there  are  others," 
said  a  member  of  the  German  Embassy  at  Wash- 
ington, "is  engaged  in  doing  to  the  commerce 
of  the  Allies  just  what  the  British  tried  to  do  to 
the  Deutschland  when  she  left  America.  [The 


GERMAN  COMMENT  37 

submarine  Deutschland,  engaged  in  commercial 
enterprise,  had  visited  the  United  States  some 
time  previously.]  It  is  a  plain  case  of  what  is 
sometimes  known  as  commerce-raiding.  It  is 
being  done  by  submarines,  that  is  all.  War- 
fare, such  as  that  which  has  been  conducted 
in  the  Mediterranean,  has  been  brought  across 
the  Atlantic.  It  should  be  easy  to  destroy  more 
of  the  overseas  commerce  of  the  Allies,  which 
is  principally  with  America,  near  where  it  orig- 
inates." 

Here  was  a  veiled  threat — not  so  veiled  either 
— which  was  no  doubt  marked  in  Washington. 
President  Wilson  received  the  news  of  the  sink- 
ings in  silence,  but  plainly  government  author- 
ities were  worried  over  the  situation.  New 
problems  were  erected  and  the  future  was  filled 
with  possibilities  of  a  multifarious  nature. 

Thus,  within  twenty-four  hours  it  was  dem- 
onstrated that  the  war  was  not  3,000  miles 
away  from  us,  but  close  to  our  shores.  The 
implied  threat  that  it  would  be  a  simple  matter 
for  submarines  to  cross  the  Atlantic  and  deal 
with  us  as  they  were  dealing  with  France  and 
England  and  other  Entente  nations — not  to 


38  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

say  harmless  neutrals  such  as  Holland  and 
Scandinavia — was  not  lost  upon  the  citizens  of 
this  country.  But,  as  usual,  German  judgment 
in  the  matter  of  psychology  was  astray.  The 
threat  had  no  effect  in  the  way  of  Schrecklich- 
keit,  but  rather  it  steeled  us  to  a  future  which 
began  to  appear  inevitable.  And  deep  under 
the  surface  affairs  began  to  move  in  the  Navy 
Department. 

No  doubt,  too,  the  conviction  began  to  grow 
upon  the  government  that  the  policy  of  deal- 
ing fairly  by  Germany  was  not  appreciated, 
and  that  when  the  exigencies  of  the  war  situa- 
tion seemed  to  require  it,  our  ships  would  be 
sent  to  the  bottom  as  cheerfully  as  those  of 
other  neutrals  such  as  Holland,  Norway,  and 
Sweden,  as  well  as  other  countries  who  unfor- 
tunately were  not  in  the  positon  to  guard  their 
neutrality  with  some  show  of  dignity  that  we 
were  in. 

Subsequent  events  proved  how  true  this 
feeling  was.  For  not  six  months  later  the  Ger- 
man policy  of  sea  aggression  had  brought  us  to 
the  point  where  it  was  not  possible  for  us  to 
remain  out  of  the  conflict  against  the  pirate 


LONG  INTERVAL  TO  NEXT  VISIT         39 

nation.  It  was  in  the  following  April  that  we 
went  to  war,  and  our  first  act  was  to  send  forth 
a  destroyer  flotilla  to  engage  the  U-boat  in  its 
hunting-ground.  Among  that  flotilla,  as  said, 
were  many  of  the  craft  which  had  rescued  sur- 
vivors of  the  Nantucket  affair.  They  were 
ready  and  their  officers  were  ready,  nay,  eager. 
They  swept  across  a  stormy  Atlantic  like  un- 
leashed hounds,  and  when  the  British  com- 
mander received  them  at  Queenstown,  and 
asked  the  American  commanders  when  they 
would  be  ready  to  take  their  places  with  the 
British  destroyers,  the  answer  came  quickly: 

"We  are  ready  now." 

And  they  were — allowing  for  the  cleaning  of 
a  few  hulls  and  the  effecting  of  minor  repairs 
to  one  or  two  of  the  vessels.  Other  destroyers 
remained  here,  of  course,  while  a  fringe  of  sub- 
marine-chasers and  swift,  armed  yachts  con- 
verted into  government  patrol-vessels  were 
guarding  our  coast  the  day  after  the  President 
signed  the  war  resolution.  But  more  than  a 
year  and  a  half  was  to  elapse  before  our  waters 
were  again  to  know  the  submarine  menace. 
Just  why  the  Germans  waited  may  not  be  known. 


40 

Probably  they  had  all  they  could  attend  to  in 
foreign  waters.  In  any  event  it  was  not  until 
June,  1918,  that  a  coastwise  schooner  captain 
was  both  surprised  and  indignant  when  a  shot 
from  a  craft  which  he  took  to  be  an  American 
submarine  went  across  his  bows.  It  was  not 
an  American  submarine;  it  was  a  German  sub- 
mersible and  that  schooner  was  sent  to  the 
bottom,  followed  by  other  wind-jammers  and 
the  Porto  Rico  liner  Carolina. 

Thus,  what  in  the  original  instance  was  a 
test  journey  in  the  interests  of  German  sub- 
marine activity — the  visit  of  the  U-53  in  Oc- 
tober, 1916 — as  well  as  a  threat  to  this  country 
bore  its  fruit  in  the  development  of  that  test 
trip,  and  in  the  fulfilment  of  that  threat.  At 
this  writing  the  coastwise  marauder,  or  ma- 
rauders, are  still  off  our  shores,  and  clouds  of 
navy  craft  are  seeking  to  destroy  them.  We 
are  far  better  equipped  for  such  service  than 
we  were  when  Captain  Hans  Rose  came  here 
in  his  submarine,  and  it  is  divulging  no  secret 
information  to  say  that  this  and  further  in- 
vasions of  our  home  waters  will  be  dealt  with 
bravely  and  rigorously  without  the  necessity 


CONGRESS  DEBATES  41 

of  subtracting  from  the  number  of  war-vessels 
that  are  engaged  with  Allied  fighters  in  main- 
taining commerce  upon  the  waters  of  Europe. 

But  this  is  getting  a  bit  further  ahead  than 
I  intended  to  go  at  this  juncture.  The  primary 
point  is  that  with  the  visit  of  Captain  Hans  Rose 
in  his  undersea  boat,  with  her  depredations  off 
our  coast,  the  Navy  Department,  saying  noth- 
ing to  outsiders,  came  to  accept  the  idea  of  war 
as  something  more  than  a  possible  contingency. 

Debates  in  Congress  were  characterized  by 
an  increasing  pointedness,  and  stories  of  sea 
murders  increased  rather  than  diminished.  And 
not  infrequently  there  were  Americans  on  board 
those  ships.  At  length  came  the  sinking  of 
American  merchantmen  and  the  final  decision 
by  our  government  to  place  armed  guards  on 
all  merchant  vessels  carrying  our  flag.  It  was 
then  that  the  Navy  Department  was  called 
upon  to  take  the  first  open  steps  against  the 
German  sea  menace — steps  rife  with  grim  pos- 
sibilities, since  it  operated  to  bring  our  seamen 
gunners  into  actual  conflict  with  the  German 
naval  forces.  There  could  be  little  doubt,  there- 
fore, that  war  would  follow  in  inevitable  course. 


CHAPTER  II 

OUR    NAVY  ARMS  AMERICAN   MERCHANT   VESSELS DEATH 

OF   OUR    FIRST    BLUEJACKET    ON    SERVICE    IN    THE    WAR 

ZONE VICE-ADMIRAL   SIMS WE  TAKE   OVER   PATROL   OF 

WATERS    OF    WESTERN    HEMISPHERE THE    NAVAL    AD- 
VISORY   BOARD    OF    INVENTIONS — WORK    OF    THIS    BODY 

OUR     BATTLESHIPS    THE    LARGEST    IN    THE    WORLD 

WIDE-SPREAD   OPERATIONS 

ANNOUNCEMENT  was  made  on  March 
•*  *•  12,  1917,  that  American  merchantmen 
would  be  armed  for  protection  against  sub- 
marine attacks,  and  hundreds  of  guns  of  proper 
calibers  were  required  for  the  purpose.  These 
were  taken  from  the  vessels  of  the  fleet  and, 
of  course,  had  to  be  replaced  as  soon  as  possible. 
Work  was  expeditiously  carried  forward,  and 
hardly  had  the  order  for  armed  guards  been 
issued  than  the  American  freighter  Campana 
was  sent  to  Europe  well-laden  with  cargo  and 
prepared  to  make  matters  interesting  for  any 
submarine  that  saw  fit  to  attack  by  the  then 
prevailing  method  of  shell-fire.  Other  vessels 
soon  followed,  and  the  country  witnessed  the 
anomalous  condition  of  the  navy  in  war  service 

42 


FIRST  FATALITY  43 

in  the  European  war  zone  before  war  was  de- 
clared. 

The  navy,  in  fact,  had  its  first  death  in  ser- 
vice before  we  went  to  war,  when  on  April  1, 
John  Espolucci,  of  Washington,  D.  C.,  one  of 
the  armed  guard  of  the  steamship  Aztec,  was 
killed  in  the  course  of  events  attending  the 
destruction  of  that  vessel  by  a  submarine.  By 
this  time  active  hostilities  had  seemed  inevitable 
and  before  the  sinking  of  the  Aztec  the  Navy 
Department  had  sent  Admiral  William  S.  Sims 
abroad  to  get  in  touch  with  the  British  and 
French  Admiralties  for  the  purpose  of  discuss- 
ing the  most  effective  participation  of  our 
war-ships  in  the  conflict.  Later,  when  war 
was  actually  declared,  Sims  was  promoted  to 
vice-admiral,  and  made  commander  of  the 
United  States  naval  forces  operating  in  Euro- 
pean waters. 

No  better  man  for  this  post  could  have  been 
selected.  A  graduate  of  the  Naval  Academy 
in  the  class  of  1880,  his  career  in  the  navy  had 
been  one  sequence  of  brilliant  achievement. 
As  naval  attache  at  Paris  and  Petrograd,  in 
the  course  of  his  distinguished  service  he  had 


44  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

ample  opportunities  for  the  study  of  European 
naval  conditions,  and  later  he  was  intrusted 
with  the  important  duty  of  developing  gun- 
nery practice  and  marksmanship  in  our  battle- 
fleet.  The  immense  value  of  his  work  in  this 
respect  is  an  open  book.  His  instincts  were 
wholly  scientific,  and  with  neither  fear  nor 
favor  he  carried  forward  our  record  for  marks- 
manship until  it  was  second  to  that  of  no  navy 
in  the  world.  The  one  mark  upon  his  record 
is  an  indiscreet  speech  made  in  London,  be- 
fore the  European  War  occurred,  in  which  he 
stated  that  blood  was  thicker  than  water,  and 
that  at  the  necessary  moment  the  navies  of 
the  United  States  and  of  Great  Britain  would 
be  found  joined  in  brotherly  co-operation.  Eng- 
land liked  that  speech  a  lot,  but  Germany  did 
not,  and  Washington  was  rather  embarrassed. 
Beginning,  however,  with  April  of  1917,  that 
speech  delivered  several  years  previously  was 
recalled  as  perfectly  proper,  pat,  and  apropos. 
There  can  be  no  doubt  that  his  constructive 
advice,  suggestion,  and  criticism  were  of  enor- 
mous benefit  to  the  British  and  the  French, 
and  by  the  same  token  exceedingly  harmful 


SIMS  IN  COMMAND  45 

to  the  murderous  submarine  campaign  of  Ger- 
many. As  evidence  of  the  regard  in  which  the 
admiralty  of  Great  Britain  held  this  American 
officer,  witness  the  fact  that  upon  one  occasion 
when  the  British  commander-in-chief  of  naval 
operations  on  the  Irish  coast  was  compelled 
to  leave  his  command  for  a  period,  Admiral 
Sims  was  nominated  by  the  admiralty  to  serve 
as  chief  of  the  combined  forces  until  the  British 
commander  returned. 

But  this  mission  of  Admiral  Sims,  and  the 
eventual  despatch  of  submarine  flotillas  to  the 
war  zone,  were  but  two  phases  of  the  enormous 
problem  which  confronted  the  Navy  Depart- 
ment upon  the  outbreak  of  hostilities.  There 
was  first  of  all  the  task  of  organizing  and  operat- 
ing the  large  transport  system  required  to  carry 
our  share  of  troops  overseas  for  foreign  service. 
Within  a  month  after  the  President  had  an- 
nounced that  troops  would  be  sent  to  Europe 
the  first  contingent  had  been  organized,  and  all 
its  units  were  safely  landed  in  France  before  the 
4th  of  July.  These  included  a  force  of  marines 
under  Colonel  (now  Brigadier-General)  Charles 
A.  Doyen,  which  is  serving  in  the  army  under 


46  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

Major-General  Pershing.  Since  that  time  a 
constant  stream  of  troops  and  supplies  has 
poured  across  the  Atlantic  under  naval  con- 
trol and  supervision,  the  presiding  officer  in 
charge  of  transport  being  Rear-Admiral  Albert 
Gleaves. 

Then,  again,  the  United  States  took  over 
control  of  most  of  the  patrol  of  the  western 
Atlantic.  Our  thousands  of  miles  of  coast  had 
to  be  guarded  against  enemy  attack  and  pro- 
tected against  German  raiders.  A  squadron 
under  command  of  Admiral  William  B.  Caper- 
ton  was  sent  to  South  America  and  received 
with  the  utmost  enthusiasm  at  Rio  de  Janeiro, 
at  Montevideo  and  Buenos  Aires,  which  cities 
were  visited  on  invitation  from  the  govern- 
ments of  Brazil,  Uruguay,  and  Argentina.  After 
Brazil's  entrance  into  the  war  the  Brazilian 
Navy  co-operated  with  our  vessels  in  the  patrol 
of  South  American  waters. 

The  taking  over  of  some  800  craft  of  various 
kinds,  and  their  conversion  into  types  needed, 
provided  the  navy  with  the  large  number  of 
vessels  required  for  transports,  patrol  service, 
submarine-chasers,  mine-sweepers,  mine-layers, 


CAMPANA    FIRST  ARMED  47 

tugs,  and  other  auxiliaries.  Tlie  repair  of  the 
109  German  ships  whose  machinery  had  been 
damaged  by  their  crews — details  of  which  will 
be  treated  in  a  subsequent  chapter — added 
more  than  700,000  tons  to  our  available  naval 
and  merchant  tonnage,  and  provided  for  the 
navy  a  number  of  huge  transports  which  have 
been  in  service  for  nearly  a  year.  Hundreds 
of  submarine-chasers  have  now  been  built,  and 
a  number  of  destroyers  and  other  craft  com- 
pleted and  placed  in  service.  The  first  merchant 
ship  to  be  armed  was  the  oil-tanker  Campana; 
guns  manned  by  navy  men  were  on  board  when 
she  sailed  for  Europe,  March  12,  1917.  The 
big  American  passenger-liners  St.  Paul  and 
New  York  were  armed  on  March  16  of  that 
year,  and  the  Red  Star  liner  Kroonland  and 
the  Mongolia  on  March  19.  And  continuously 
up  to  the  present  writing  merchant  ships  as 
they  have  become  available  have  been  armed 
and  provided  with  navy  gun  crews.  Since  the 
arming  of  the  Campana  more  than  1,300  vessels 
have  been  furnished  with  batteries,  ammuni- 
tion, spare  parts,  and  auxiliaries. 

But  of  equal  importance,  greater  importance 


48  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

history  may  decree  it,  was  Secretary  Daniels's 
action  in  1915  of  appointing  the  Naval  Ad- 
visory Board  of  Inventions.  That  was  looking 
ahead  with  a  vengeance.  The  idea  was  to  make 
available  the  latent  inventive  genius  of  the 
country  to  improve  the  navy.  The  plan  adopted 
by  Secretary  Daniels  for  selecting  this  extraor- 
dinary board  included  a  request  to  the  eleven 
great  engineering  and  scientific  societies  of  the 
country  to  select  by  popular  election  two 
members  to  represent  their  society  on  the  board. 
Results  were  immediately  gratifying.  Nomina- 
tions were  forthcoming  at  once,  and  in  September 
of  1915  the  board,  which  came  popularly  to  be 
known  as  the  Inventions  Board,  met  in  Wash- 
ington for  organization.  Thomas  A.  Edison 
was  selected  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy  as 
chairman  of  the  board,  and  the  other  members 
were  elected  as  follows: 

From  the  American  Chemical  Society:  W.  R. 
Whitney,  director  of  Research  Laboratory,  Gen- 
eral Electric  Company,  where  he  has  been  the 
moving  spirit  in  the  perfection  of  metallic  elec- 
tric-lamp filaments  and  the  development  of 
wrought  tungsten.  L.  H.  Baekeland,  founder 


EXPERTS  APPOINTED  49 

of  the  Nepera  Chemical  Company  and  inventor 
of  photographic  paper. 

From  the  American  Institute  of  Electrical 
Engineers:  Frank  Julian  Sprague,  consulting 
engineer  for  Sprague,  Otis,  and  General  Electric 
Companies  and  concerned  in  the  establishment 
of  the  first  electrical  trolley  systems  in  this 
country.  B.  G.  Lamme,  chief  engineer  of  the 
Westinghouse  Electric  and  Manufacturing  Com- 
pany and  a  prolific  inventor. 

From  the  American  Mathematical  Society: 
Robert  Simpson  Woodward,  president  of  the 
Carnegie  Institution  and  an  authority  on  as- 
tronomy, geography,  and  mathematical  physics. 
Arthur  Gordon  Webster,  professor  of  physics  at 
Clark  University  and  an  authority  on  sound, 
its  production  and  measurement. 

From  the  American  Society  of  Civil  Engi- 
neers: Andrew  Murray  Hunt,  consulting  engi- 
neer, experienced  in  the  development  of  hydro- 
electric, steam,  and  gas  plants.  Alfred  Craven, 
chief  engineer  of  Public  Service  Commission, 
New  York,  and  formerly  division  engineer  in 
charge  of  construction  work  on  Croton  aqueduct 
and  reservoirs. 


50  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

From  the  American  Aeronautical  Society: 
Mathew  Bacon  Sellers,  director  of  Technical 
Board  of  the  American  Aeronautical  Society 
and  the  first  to  determine  dynamic  wind-pres- 
sure on  arched  surfaces  by  means  of  "wind 
funnel."  Hudson  Maxim,  ordnance  and  ex- 
plosive expert,  maker  of  the  first  smokeless 
powder  adopted  by  the  United  States  Govern- 
ment. 

The  Inventors'  Guild:  Peter  Cooper  Hewitt, 
inventor  of  electric  lamp,  appliances  to  enable 
direct-current  apparatus  to  be  used  with  al- 
ternating-current circuits,  and  devices  for  tele- 
phones and  aircraft.  Thomas  Robbins,  presi- 
dent of  Robbins  Conveying  Belt  Company  and 
inventor  of  many  devices  for  conveying  coal 
and  ore. 

From  American  Society  of  Automobile  En- 
gineers: Andrew  L.  Riker,  vice-president  of 
Locomobile  Company,  electrical  and  mechanical 
engineer  and  inventor  of  many  automobile 
devices.  Howard  E.  Coffin,  vice-president  of 
Hudson  Motor  Car  Company  and  active  in 
the  development  of  internal-combustion  en- 
gines. 


MANY  BODIES  INVOLVED  51 

Prom  the  American  Institute  of  Mining  En- 
gineers: William  Laurence  Saunders,  chairman 
of  the  Board  of  Directors  of  the  Ingersoll-Rand 
Company  and  inventor  of  many  devices  for 
subaqueous  and  rock  drilling.  Benjamin  Bow- 
ditch  Thayer,  president  of  the  Anaconda  Cop- 
per Mining  Company  and  an  authority  on  ex- 
plosives. 

From  the  American  Electro  Chemical  So- 
ciety: Joseph  William  Richards,  professor  of 
Electro-Chemistry  at  Lehigh  and  author  of 
numerous  works  on  electrometallurgy.  Law- 
rence Addicks,  consulting  engineer  for  Phelps, 
Dodge  and  Company  and  authority  on  the 
metallurgy  of  copper. 

American  Society  of  Mechanical  Engineers: 
William  Leroy  Emmet,  engineer  with  the  Gen- 
eral Electric  Company.  He  designed  and  per- 
fected the  development  of  the  Curtis  Turbine 
and  was  the  first  serious  promoter  of  electric 
propulsion  for  ships.  Spencer  Miller,  inventor 
of  ship-coaling  apparatus  and  the  breeches- 
buoy  device  used  in  rescues  from  shipwrecks. 

From  the  American  Society  of  Aeronautic 
Engineers:  Henry  Alexander  Wise  Wood,  en- 


52  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

gineer  and  manufacturer  of  printing-machinery 
and  student  of  naval  aeronautics.  Elmer  Am- 
brose Sperry,  founder  of  Sperry  Electric  Com- 
pany, designer  of  electric  appliances  and  gyro- 
scope stabilizer  for  ships  and  airplanes. 

Just  what  service  this  board  has  performed 
is  in  the  keeping  of  the  government.  But  that 
it  has  been  a  distinguished  service  we  may  not 
doubt.  Seated  in  their  headquarters  at  Wash- 
ington, their  minds  centred  upon  the  various 
problems  of  the  sea  which  the  war  brought 
forth,  they  have  unquestionably  exerted  a  con- 
structive influence  no  less  vital  than  that  played 
by  the  officers  and  men  of  the  navy  on  the  fight- 
ing front.  Only  one  announcement  ever  came 
from  this  board,  and  that  was  when  William 
L.  Saunders  gave  forth  the  statement  that  a 
means  of  combating  the  submarine  had  been 
devised.  This  early  in  the  war.  Doubt  as  to 
the  strict  accuracy  of  the  statement  came  from 
other  members  of  the  Inventions  Board,  and 
then  the  whole  matter  was  hushed.  Mr.  Saun- 
ders said  nothing  more  and  neither  did  his  col- 
leagues. 

But   whether  emanating  from   the   lucubra- 


DEPTH-BOMBS  53 

tions  of  Mr.  Edison's  board,  or  wherever  de- 
vised, we  know  that  the  American  Navy  has 
applied  many  inventions  to  the  work  of  com- 
bating the  under-sea  pirate.  A  type  of  depth- 
bomb  was  developed  and  applied.  This  is  one 
of  the  most  efficient  methods  of  beating  the 
submarine  that  has  yet  been  found.  Explosive 
charges  are  fitted  with  a  mechanism  designed 
to  explode  the  charge  at  a  predetermined  depth 
below  the  surface  of  the  sea.  The  force  of  the 
explosion  of  a  depth  charge  dropped  close  to 
a  submarine  is  sufficient  to  disable  if  not  sink 
it,  and  American  boats  have  been  fitted  with 
various  interesting  means  of  getting  these 
bombs  into  the  water. 

Smoke-producing  apparatus  was  developed 
to  enable  a  vessel  to  conceal  herself  behind  a 
smoke-screen  when  attacked  by  submarines 
and  thus  escape.  Several  types  of  screen  have 
been  invented  and  applied  in  accordance  with 
the  character  of  the  vessel.  After  a  study  of 
the  Ar-mcais  types  of  mines  in  existence,  there 
was  produced  an  American  mine  believed  to 
mvolve  all  the  excellent  points  of  mines  of  what- 
ever nationality,  while  another  extraordinary 


54  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

invention  was  the  non-ricochet  projectile.  The 
ordinary  pointed  projectile  striking  the  water 
almost  horizontally  is  deflected  and  ricochets. 
A  special  type  of  shell  which  did  not  glance  off 
the  surface  of  the  ocean  was  developed  early 
in  1917  and  supplied  to  all  vessels  sailing  in 
the  war  zone. 

The  first  year  of  the  war  saw  also  the  de- 
velopment of  the  seaplane,  with  the  adaption 
to  this  vehicle  of  the  air  a  nonrecoil  gun,  which 
permits  the  use  of  comparatively  large  calibers, 
and  of  the  Lewis  gun.  This  year  saw  also  the 
completion  of  the  latest  type  of  naval  16-inch 
gun,  throwing  a  projectile  weighing  2,100 
pounds.  Our  newest  battleships  will  mount 
them.  In  this  connection  it  is  interesting  to  note 
that  broadside  weights  have  tripled  in  the  short 
space  of  twenty  years;  that  the  total  weight  of 
steel  thrown  by  a  single  broadside  of  the 
Pennsylvania  to-day  is  17,508  pounds,  while 
the  total  weight  thrown  from  the  broadside 
of  the  Oregon  of  Spanish-American  War  fame 
was  5,600  pounds. 

The  navy  also  went  in  vigorously  for  aviation 
and  has  done  exceedingly  well.  After  the  ex- 


SPECIALIZED  ACTIVITIES  55 

pansion  of  private  plants  had  been  provided 
for,  the  navy  decided  to  operate  a  factory  of  its 
own,  and  a  great  building  400  by  400  feet  was 
erected  in  Philadelphia  in  110  days  at  a  cost 
of  $700,000.  Contracts  involving  approximately 
$1,600,000  have  been  made  which  will  more 
than  treble  the  capacity  of  this  plant. 

In  addition  to  work  of  this  sort  and  services 
including  scores  of  specialized  activities,  such 
as  medical  development,  ordnance  and  muni- 
tions manufacture,  building  of  yards,  docks, 
and  all  sorts  of  accessory  facilities,  the  navy 
before  the  war  had  been  a  month  under  way 
had  given  contracts  for  the  construction  of 
several  hundred  submarine-chasers,  having  a 
length  of  110  feet  and  driven  by  three  220- 
horse-power  gasolene-engines,  to  thirty -one  pri- 
vate firms  and  six  navy-yards.  All  of  these 
craft  are  now  in  service,  and  have  done 
splendidly  both  in  meeting  stormy  seas  and 
in  running  down  the  submarines.  While  the 
British  prefer  a  smaller  type  of  submarine- 
chaser,  they  have  no  criticism  of  ours.  Many 
of  these  110-footers,  built  of  wood,  crossed  the 
ocean  in  weather  which  did  considerable  dam- 


56  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

age  to  larger  craft,  and  yet  were  practically 
unscathed.  The  French  are  using  many  of 
them. 

Another  larger  type  of  chaser,  corresponding 
to  the  destroyer,  is  the  patrol-boat  of  the  Eagle 
class  built  at  the  plant  of  Henry  Ford  in  De- 
troit. 

The  most  recent  battleships  laid  down  by 
the  navy  are  the  largest  ever  attempted.  The 
biggest  British  battleship  of  which  we  have 
knowledge  displaces  27,500  tons;  the  largest 
German,  28,448  metric  tons  (28,000  American 
tons),  while  the  largest  Japanese  battleship 
displaces  30,600  tons.  These  may  be  compared 
with  our  Arizona  and  Pennsylvania,  31,400  tons; 
Idaho,  Mississippi,  and  New  Mexico,  32,000 
tons;  California  and  Tennessee  32,300  tons,  Col- 
orado, Washington,  Maryland,  and  West  Virginia, 
32,600  tons,  while  six  new  battleships  author- 
ized early  in  the  present  year  are  designed  to  be 
41,500  tons.  Our  new  battle-cruisers  of  35,000 
tons  and  35  knots  speed  will  be  the  swiftest  in 
the  world,-  having  a  speed  equal  to  the  latest 
and  fastest  destroyers.  They  will  also  be  the 
largest  in  the  world  with  the  exception  of  the 


CIVILIAN  EMPLOYES  57 

four  British  battle-cruisers  of  the  Hood  class, 
which  are  41,200  tons. 

On  April  1,  1917,  the  total  number  of  civilian 
employees  in  the  nine  principal  navy-yards  was 
29,708.  On  March  1,  1918,  the  total  number 
of  employees  in  the  same  yards  was  58,026. 
The  total  number  of  mechanics  now  employed 
at  all  navy  yards  and  stations  throughout  the 
country  is  more  than  66,000. 

The  Navy  Powder  Factory  at  Indianapolis, 
Ind.,  manufactures  powder  of  the  highest  grade 
for  use  in  the  big  guns;  it  employs  1,000  men 
and  covers  a  square  mile.  Additional  build- 
ings and  machinery,  together  with  a  new  gen- 
erating-plant,  are  now  being  installed.  The 
torpedo-station  at  Newport,  a  large  plant  where 
torpedoes  are  manufactured,  has  been  greatly 
enlarged  and  its  facilities  in  the  way  of  pro- 
duction radically  increased.  Numerous  ammu- 
nition-plants throughout  the  country  prepare  the 
powder  charge,  load  and  fuse  the  shell,  handle 
high  explosives,  and  ship  the  ammunition  to 
vessels  in  the  naval  service.  Among  recent  ad- 
ditions to  facilities  is  an  automatic  mine-load- 
ing plant  of  great  capacity  and  new  design. 


58  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

Schools  of  various  sorts,  ranging  from  those 
devoted  to  the  teaching  of  wireless  telegraphy 
to  cooking,  were  established  in  various  parts 
of  the  country,  and  from  them  a  constant  grist 
of  highly  specialized  men  are  being  sent  to  the 
ships  and  to  stations. 

In  these,  and  in  numerous  ways  not  here 
mentioned,  the  Navy  Department  signalized  its 
entrance  into  the  war.  While  many  new  fields 
had  to  be  entered — with  sequential  results  in 
way  of  mistakes  and  delays — there  were  more 
fields,  all  important,  wherein  constructive 
preparation  before  we  entered  the  war  were 
revealed  when  the  time  came  to  look  for  prac- 
tical results. 


CHAPTER  III 

FIRST  HOSTILE  CONTACT  BETWEEN  THE  NAVY  AND  THE 

GERMANS — ARMED   GUARDS   ON  MERCHANT   VESSELS 

"CAMPANA"  FIRST  TO  SAIL — DANIELS  REFUSES  OFFER  OF 
MONEY  AWARDS  TO  MEN  WHO  SINK  SUBMARINES — "MON- 
GOLIA" SHOWS  GERMANY  HOW  THE  YANKEE  SAILORMAN 
BITES — FIGHT  OF  THE  "  SILVERSHELL  " — HEROISM  OF 
GUNNERS  ON  MERCHANT  SHIPS — SINKING  OF  THE  "AN- 
TILLES" EXPERIENCES  OF  VOYAGERS 

IN  the  way  of  direct  hostile  contact  between 
the  Navy  Department  and  Germany  we 
find  the  first  steps  taken  in  the  placing  of  armed 
naval-guards  on  American  merchantmen.  While 
this  was  authorized  by  the  government  before 
war  was  declared,  it  was  recognized  as  a  step 
that  would  almost  inevitably  lead  to  our  taking 
our  part  in  the  European  conflict  and  the  na- 
tion, as  a  consequence,  prepared  its  mind  for 
such  an  outcome  of  our  new  sea  policy.  Ger- 
many had  announced  her  policy  of  unrestricted 
submarine  warfare  in  February,  1917,  and  on 
Feburary  10  of  that  month  two  American 
steamships,  the  Orleans  and  the  Rochester,  left 

59 


60  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

port  for  France  in  defiance  of  the  German  warn- 
ing. Both  vessels  were  unarmed  and  both  ar- 
rived safely  on  the  other  side — the  Rochester 
was  subsequently  sunk — but  their  sailing  with- 
out any  means  of  defense  against  attack  aroused 
the  nation  and  spurred  Congress  to  action. 

On  March  12  the  first  armed  American  mer- 
chantman, the  Campana,  left  port  with  a  gun 
mounted  astern,  and  a  crew  of  qualified  naval 
marksmen  to  man  it.  In  the  following  October 
Secretary  Daniels  announced  that  his  depart- 
ment had  found  guns  and  crews  for  every  one 
of  our  merchant  vessels  designated  for  armament 
and  that  the  guards  consisted  of  from  sixteen 
to  thirty-two  men  under  command  of  com- 
missioned or  chief  petty  officers  of  the  navy. 
When  the  work  of  finding  guns  for  vessels  was 
begun  the  navy  had  few  pieces  that  were  avail- 
able. While  there  were  many  fine  gunners  in 
the  naval  force,  there  were  not  a  sufficient  num- 
ber of  them  to  enable  the  quick  arming  of  mer- 
chantmen without  handicapping  the  war-ships. 

So  every  battleship  in  ±he  navy  was  con- 
verted into  a  school  of  fire  to  train  men  for  the 
duty,  and  the  naval  ordnance  plants  entered 


REWARDS  OFFERED  61 

upon  the  work  of  turning  out  guns  qualified 
for  service  on  merchant  craft.  There  were 
guns  in  stock,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  but  the  number 
was  insufficient  for  the  purpose  in  hand  be- 
cause, before  the  submarine  developed  a  new 
sort  of  sea  warfare,  it  was  not  the  policy  of  the 
nations  to  arm  merchant  vessels  other  than 
those  used  as  naval  auxiliaries.  But,  as  already 
said,  so  expeditiously  were  affairs  carried  on 
that  some  six  months  after  the  decision  to  equip 
our  freighters  and  passenger-liners  with  means 
of  protection  we  had  the  sailors  and  the  guns 
necessary  to  meet  all  demands. 

The  following  telegraphic  correspondence,  be- 
tween two  St.  Louis  business  men  and  the  Secre- 
tary of  the  Navy,  gives  a  very  fair  idea  of  the 
spirit  in  which  the  citizens  of  this  country  ac- 
cepted the  decision  of  the  government  to  arm 
our  merchant  marine: 

"ST.  Louis,  Mo.,  April  11,  1917. 
"Hon.  Josephus  Daniels,  Secretary  of  the  Navy, 

Washington,  D.  C. 

"We  will  pay  $500  to  the  captain  and  crew 
of  the  first  American  merchant  ship  to  destroy 


62  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

a  hostile  submarine  after  this  date.     Money 
will  be  paid  on  award  by  your  office." 

"BENJAMIN  GRATZ. 

"ANDERSON  GRATZ." 

To  which  Mr.  Daniels  replied  as  follows: 

"I  thank  you  for  the  spirit  which  prompted 
your  offer.  It  is  my  distinct  feeling  that  money 
rewards  for  such  bravery  is  not  in  keeping  with 
the  spirit  of  our  day." 

And  neither  it  was.  The  American  naval 
men  were  intent  upon  duty  and  their  duty  was 
merely  to  protect  the  dignity  as  well  as  the 
safety  of  our  sea-borne  commerce.  The  merce- 
nary element  was  absent  and  that  Mr.  Daniels 
did  well  to  emphasize  this  fact  was  the  con- 
viction of  the  navy  as  well  as  of  the  entire  coun- 
try; while,  at  the  same  time,  as  the  secretary 
said,  the  spirit  underlying  the  offer  was  appre- 
ciated. 

In  the  meantime  the  German  Government — 
which  no  doubt  had  not  expected  such  drastic 
action  on  the  part  of  the  United  States — was 
profoundly  disturbed,  and  it  was  stated  that 
crews  of  American  merchantmen  who  ven- 


GERMAN  ATTITUDE  63 

tured  to  fire  upon  German  submarines  before 
a  state  of  war  existed  between  the  two  coun- 
tries must  expect  to  meet  the  fate  of  the  Brit- 
ish merchant  captain,  Charles  Fryatt,  who, 
as  will  be  recalled,  was  tried  and  executed  in 
Germany  for  attempting  to  ram  the  German 
submarine  7-33  with  his  vessel,  the  Great  East- 
ern Railway  steamship,  Brussels,  in  July  of 
1916.  This  warning  set  forth  in  the  Neueste 
Nachrichten,  of  Munich,  is  so  ingenious  that 
the  reader  interested  in  Teutonic  pyschology 
will  no  doubt  be  interested  in  the  perusal 
thereof. 

"We  assume,"  the  newspaper  said,  "that 
President  Wilson  realizes  the  fate  to  which  he 
is  subjecting  his  artillerymen.  According  to 
the  German  prize  laws  it  is  unneutral  support 
of  the  enemy  if  a  neutral  ship  takes  part  in 
hostilities.  If  such  a  ship  opposes  the  prize- 
court  then  it  must  be  treated  as  an  enemy  ship. 
The  prize  rules  specify  as  to  the  crews  of  such 
ships.  If,  without  being  attached  to  the  forces 
of  the  enemy,  they  take  part  in  hostilities  or 
make  forcible  resistance,  they  may  be  treated 
according  ^to  the  usages  of  war.  If  President 


64  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

Wilson,  knowing  these  provisions  of  interna- 
tional law,  proceeds  to  arm  American  mer- 
chantmen he  must  assume  responsibility  for 
the  eventuality  that  American  seamen  will 
meet  the  fate  of  Captain  Fryatt." 

All  of  which  did  not  appear  to  frighten  our 
government  one  bit.  We  set  ourselves  to  the 
task  of  equipping  our  merchant  craft  with  sea- 
men-gunners and  guns,  and  it  was  not  long- 
April  25,  in  fact — before  an  incident  occurred 
that  brought  forth  a  chuckle  from  Colonel 
Roosevelt,  a  chuckle  accompanied  by  the  his- 
toric remark:  "Thank  heaven !  Americans 
have  at  last  begun  to  hit.  We  have  been  al- 
together too  long  at  the  receiving  end  of  this 
war  that  Germany  has  been  waging  upon  us." 

This  ebullition  was  occasioned  by  the  report 
of  the  first  real  American  blow  of  the  war  when, 
late  in  April,  1917,  the  crack  American  freighter 
Mongolia  showed  the  German  Navy  that  the 
time  had  arrived  when  the  long,  strong  arm  of 
Uncle  Sam  was  reaching  out  a  brawny  fist  over 
the  troubled  waters  of  the  Atlantic. 

The  Mongolia  had  left  an  American  port 
after  war  had  been  declared,  and  she  was  guarded 


MONGOLIA'S  MEN  ON   WATCH  65 

by  a  6-inch  gun,  with  a  crew  of  seamen-gunners 
under  command  of  Lieutenant  Bruce  Ware. 
Captain  Emery  Rice  commanded  the  freighter, 
and  the  voyage  across  the  Atlantic  had  pro- 
ceeded without  incident  until  the  port  of  destina- 
tion, an  English  port,  lay  just  twenty-four 
hours  away.  In  other  words,  the  Mongolia  was 
in  the  war  zone.  The  sea  was  untroubled,  and 
the  gun  crew  gathered  at  then*  stations  and 
the  lookouts  on  mast  and  deck  were  beginning 
to  believe  that  the  trip  would  end  as  unevent- 
fully as  it  had  begun.  No  doubt  there  was  some 
disappointment  in  this  thought;  for,  strange  as 
it  may  seem,  our  armed  freighters  were  rather 
inclined  to  hunt  out  the  submarines  than  to 
dodge  them.  It  has  been  the  frequent  testi- 
mony that  our  armed  guards  are  always  spoil- 
ing for  fight,  not  seeking  to  avoid  it. 

At  all  events,  the  freighter  steamed  through 
the  light  mists  of  the  April  afternoon — it  was 
the  anniversary  of  the  battle  of  Lexington — • 
and  Captain  Rice,  who  had  been  five  days  in 
his  clothes,  and  Lieutenant  Ware  of  the  navy 
and  his  nineteen  men,  serving  the  two  4-inch 
forward  guns  and  the  6-inch  stern  piece,  cast- 


66  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

ing  their  eyes  over  the  vast  stretch  of  water 
when  at  5.30  o'clock  the  gruff  voice  of  the  first 
mate,  who  had  been  peering  over  the  dodger 
rail  of  the  bridge  rumbled  over  the  vessel. 

"Submarine.     Two  points  off  the  port  bow." 

There  it  was,  sure  enough,  a  periscope  at 
least,  practically  dead  ahead,  her  position  with 
relation  to  the  Mongolia  being  such  that  the 
vessel  offered  a  narrow  target,  a  target  hardly 
worth  the  wasting  of  a  valuable  torpedo.  No, 
the  submarine  was  either  waiting  for  a  broad- 
side expanse  or  else  was  intent  upon  a  gun- 
fight. 

Lieutenant  Ware  and  his  seamen  were  ready. 
In  compliance  to  a  sharply  spoken  order  the 
three  guns  were  turned  upon  the  periscope. 
But  quick  as  the  gunners  were,  the  submarine 
was  quicker,  and  as  the  guns  were  brought  to 
bear  the  periscope  sank  gently  out  of  sight. 
Captain  Rice  almost  pulled  the  engine-room 
signal  telegraph-lever  out  by  its  roots  in  bring- 
ing the  ship  to  full  speed  toward  the  spot  where 
the  periscope  had  last  been  seen,  his  idea  of 
course,  being  to  ram  the  lurking  craft. 

For  two  minutes  nothing  was  seen  and  then 


"THERE  SHE  BLOWS!"  67 

a  shout  from  one  of  the  lookouts  heralded  the 
reappearance  of  the  submersible,  this  time  a 
thousand  yards  to  port,  the  Mongolia  offering 
to  the  Germans  a  fair  broadside  expanse  of  hull. 
Lieutenant  Ware's  voice  arose  and  the  next 
instant  the  6-inch  piece  spoke.  That  periscope 
went  into  splinters;  a  direct  hit.  Watchers 
on  the  freighter  saw  the  shell  strike  its  mark 
fairly.  A  great  geyser  arose  from  the  sea,  and 
when  it  died  there  were  evidences  of  commo- 
tion beneath  the  surface.  Then  gradually  foam 
and  oil  spread  upon  the  gentle  waves. 

There  was  no  doubt  about  the  hit.  Lieu- 
tenant Ware  knew  before  the  shell  struck  that 
the  aim  had  been  accurate.  There  was  no  guess- 
work about  it.  It  was  a  case  of  pure  mathe- 
matics. The  whole  affair  was  over  in  two  min- 
utes. The  vessel  did  not  stop  to  reconnoitre, 
but  steamed  away  at  full  speed,  sending  ahead 
wireless  reports  of  the  fight  against  the  under- 
sea craft.  The  British  naval  officers  who  came 
bounding  across  the  waters  on  their  destroyers 
were  extremely  complimentary  in  their  praise, 
and  when  the  Mongolia  returned  to  New  York 
there  was  a  dinner  in  honor  of  Lieutenant  Ware, 


68  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

an  expression  of  the  lingering  emotions  which 
had  fired  the  nation  when  word  of  the  incident 
was  cabled  to  this  country.  Since  that  fight 
the  Germans,  enraged,  seem  to  have  marked 
the  Mongolia;  for  in  succeeding  months  she 
was  set  upon  repeatedly  by  the  submarine 
flotilla,  seeking  revenge  for  her  temerity  in 
sending  one  of  their  number  to  the  bottom. 
But  she  is  still  afloat  and  ready  for  anything 
that  comes  out  of  the  sea. 

None  the  less,  the  government  began  to  feel 
that  it  would  be  wiser  not  to  mention  the  names 
of  ships  engaged  with  submarines,  and  thus 
when  the  next  good  fight  occurred  the  name 
of  the  vessel  engaged  was  not  given.  Aside 
from  hoping  thus  to  keep  a  vessel  from  being 
marked  it  had  been  the  experience  of  the  Brit- 
ish Government  that  when  Germans  had  iden- 
tified captured  sailors  as  having  belonged  to 
vessels  that  had  sunk  or  damaged  submarines 
they  subjected  them  to  unusual  severity.  Our 
navy  wished  to  avoid  this  in  the  case  of  our 
men. 

However,  the  name  of  the  vessel  which  en- 
gaged in  a  fight  on  May  30,  was  given  out  the 


THE  SILVERSHELL  69 

day  after  the  Washington  report  by  the  French 
Ministry  of  Marine.  It  was  the  Silvershell, 
commanded  by  Captain  Tom  Charlton  with 
a  gun  crew  commanded  by  William  J.  Clark, 
a  warrant-officer  from  the  battleship  Arkansas. 
The  battle  occurred  on  May  30,  in  the  Mediter- 
ranean and  in  addition  to  strength  added  by 
an  efficient  gun  crew,  whose  commander,  Clark, 
had  been  a  turret  captain  on  the  Arkansas,  the 
Silver  shell  was  an  extremely  fast  ship.  As  a 
consequence,  when  the  submarine  poked  her 
nose  out  of  the  Mediterranean  blue,  expecting 
easy  prey,  she  found  confronting  her  a  inan's- 
size  battle.  In  all  sixty  shots  were  exchanged, 
and  '  the  submarine  not  only  beaten  off,  but 
sunk  with  the  twenty -first  shot  fired  from  the 
SilvershelL  It  was  a  great  fight,  and  Clark  was 
recommended  for  promotion. 

While  the  government  jealously  guarded  de- 
tails of  this  and  subsequent  fights,  the  country 
had  adequate  food  for  pride  in  such  announce- 
ments from  the  Navy  Department  as  that  of 
July  26,  when  certain  gun-crew  officers  were 
cited  for  promotion  and  an  outline  of  reasons 
therefor  set  forth. 


70  UOK.  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

There  was  Andrew  Copassaki,  chief  boat- 
swain's mate,  for  instance,  who  was  transferred 
from  the  battleship  Arkansas  to  take  charge  of 
the  gun  crew  of  the  steamship  Moreni.  He 
commanded  this  crew  when  the  Moreni  was 
sunk  by  a  German  submarine  on  the  morning 
of  June  12.  This  gun  crew  put  up  a  fight  on 
the  deck  of  that  sinking  vessel  which  was  so 
gallant  as  to  elicit  words  of  praise  from  the 
commander  of  the  attacking  submarine.  Copas- 
saki, when  the  ship  was  in  flames,  from  shell- 
fire,  rushed  through  the  fire  to  the  forward 
gun  and  continued  to  serve  it  against  the  sub- 
marine until  the  gun  was  put  completely  out 
of  commission.  This  gallant  hero  was  born  in 
Greece,  and  had  been  in  the  navy  twenty 
years. 

Then  there  was  Harry  Waterhouse,  a  chief 
turret  captain,  transferred  from  the  dread- 
nought New  York  to  command  the  armed 
crew  of  the  Petrolite  which  was  sunk  by  a  U-- 
boat on  June  10.  The  vessel  sank  so  rapidly 
after  being  torpedoed  that  the  guns  could  not 
be  used.  The  navy  men,  however,  under  the 
command  of  Waterhouse,  assisted  in  getting 


LOSS  OF  PETROLITE  71 

out  the  boats  and  lowering  them  and  getting 
the  crew  to  safety,  to  a  man — although  the 
Petrolite  went  over  on  her  beam  ends  in  less 
than  a  minute.  No  member  of  the  armed  guard 
left  the  sinking  vessel  until  ordered  to  do  so 
by  Waterhouse.  These  are  but  a  few  of  the 
instances  of  signal  gallantry  which  have  filled 
the  records  of  our  navy  since  we  entered  the 
war. 

And  while  our  merchant  crews  were  thus  at 
work  the  navy  was  busy  sending  soldiers  to 
the  other  side.  Not  a  mishap  had  occurred 
on  the  eastbound  traffic — and  at  this  writing 
none  has  yet  occurred — but  on  October  17,  the 
transport  Antilles,  which  had  made  several  safe 
journeys  with  soldiers  destined  for  General 
Pershing's  expeditionary  forces,  was  torpedoed 
and  sunk  when  homeward  bound  with  a  loss  of 
70  lives  out  of  237  men  on  board.  The  trans- 
port was  sunk  while  under  the  convoy  of  Amer- 
ican naval  patrol- vessels,  and  she  had  on  board 
the  usual  armed  gun  crew. 

Not  only  was  the  Antilles  the  first  American 
Army  transport  to  be  lost  in  the  present  war, 
but  she  was  the  first  vessel  under  American 


72  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

convoy  to  be  successfully  attacked.  She  was 
well  out  to  sea  at  the  time  and  the  convoy  of 
protecting  vessels  was  smaller  for  this  reason, 
and  for  the  fact  that  she  was  westbound,  carry- 
ing no  troops.  The  submarine  was  never  seen 
and  neither  was  the  torpedo.  There  has  been 
rumor  that  the  explosion  that  sank  her  came 
from  the  inside,  but  so  far  as  any  one  knows 
this  is  merely  port  gossip  of  such  nature  as  arises 
when  vessels  are  lost.  Our  second  transport 
to  be  lost  was  the  President  Lincoln,  taken  over 
from  the  Germans  when  war  was  declared. 
She,  too,  was  eastbound,  well  out  to  sea,  and 
the  loss  of  life  was  small.  The  third  was  the 
Covington,  formerly  the  German  liner  Cincin- 
nati, which  was  torpedoed  in  the  early  summer  of 
this  year  while  on  her  way  to  an  American  port. 
Life  on  merchantmen,  freighters,  liners,  and 
the  like,  crossing  the  Atlantic,  has  been  fraught 
with  peril  and  with  excitement  ever  since  we 
went  into  the  war.  Even  with  armed  guards 
there  are  of  course  all  sorts  of  chances  of  dis- 
aster, chances  frequently  realized;  but,  on  the 
other  hand,  in  a  great  majority  of  cases  the  ves- 
sels of  the  transatlantic  passenger  service  have 


IN  THE  WAR  ZONE  73 

crossed  to  and  fro,  giving  their  passengers  all 
the  thrills  of  an  exciting  situation  without  sub- 
jecting them  to  anything  more  serious. 

Let  me  quote  in  part  a  letter  from  a  Prince- 
ton man,  Pleasants  Pennington,  who  was  a 
passenger  on  the  French  transatlantic  liner 
Rochambeau,  on  one  of  its  trips  late  in  1917. 

"  What  about  the  submarines  ?  They  haven't 
put  in  an  appearance  yet.  We  haven't  worried 
about  them  because  we  only  got  into  the  war 
zone  last  night;  but  I  may  have  more  to  write 
about  before  we  get  into  Bordeaux  on  Wednes- 
day or  Thursday.  There  are  several  people  on 
board — especially  ladies  of  the  idle  rich — who 
have  been  much  concerned  about  the  safety 
of  the  ship  and  incidentally  their  own  skins. 
.  .  .  The  Frenchmen,  the  officers  of  the  ship 
and  especially  the  captain  (his  name  is  Joam) 
take  a  very  philosophic  view  of  the  situation, 
and  shrug  then*  shoulders  with  Gallic  fatalism. 
If  they  shall  be  torpedoed — taut  pis!  But  why 
worry?  ...  I  had  a  talk  with  our  captain 
the  second  day  out,  and  he  seemed  to  have 
made  a  pretty  thorough  study  of  tactics  for 
avoiding  submarines.  He  said  they  did  not 


74  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

go  more  than  800  miles  from  land,  and  that  the 
best  protection  is  to  go  fast  and  keep  one's  eyes 
open.  The  Rochambeau  had  two  beautiful  new 
6-inch  guns  mounted  on  the  stern  and  a  3-inch 
gun  in  the  bow.  ...  As  near  as  I  can  gather, 
our  tactics  seem  to  be  to  keep  a  lookout  ahead 
and  trust  to  getting  a  shot  at  any  submarine 
that  shows  its  head  before  it  can  launch  a  tor- 
pedo. I  believe  torpedoes  are  not  accurate  at 
over  a  mile,  and  the  speed  of  a  submarine  is 
only  nine  knots  while  ours  is  nineteen.  ...  I 
think  the  most  distinctive  feature  of  war-time 
travel  is  the  fact  that  the  boat  must  be  per- 
fectly dark  at  night  to  an  outside  observer. 
This  rule  is  observed  on  the  entire  voyage,  and 
results  in  heavy  iron  shutters  being  bolted  on 
all  port-holes  and  windows  as  soon  as  dusk  falls 
so  that  the  entire  atmosphere  of  the  cabins, 
smoking-room,  reading-rooms,  etc.,  becomes 
very  vile  in  a  surprisingly  short  time  after 
dark.  .  .  .  We  now  sleep  on  deck  and  are  very 
comfortable.  The  deck  is  crowded  at  night 
with  people  of  different  ages,  sexes,  and  national- 
ities, sleeping  in  the  most  charming  confusion 
and  proximity." 


IN  THE  CROW'S-NEST  75 

Well,  the  Rochambeau  arrived  without  un- 
toward incident  as  she  had  done  so  often  be- 
fore and  has  done  since.  Another  letter  is  that 
of  a  Yale  senior,  enlisted  in  the  navy  and  one 
of  the  crew  of  a  transport.  "We  looked  very 
formidable  as  we  steamed  out  of  the  harbor. 
An  armored  cruiser  led  the  way  and  on  either 
side  a  torpedo  destroyer.  .  .  .  We  proceed 
very  cautiously.  After  sunset  all  lights  go  out. 
There  is  no  smoking  anywhere  on  board  and 
not  a  light  even  in  the  stateroom.  Then  if  we 
look  out  we  see  the  other  ships  of  the  convoy — 
we  hug  one  another  closely — just  stumbling 
through  the  water  like  phantom  shapes — and 
that's  the  weirdest  sight  I  have  ever  seen.  .  .  . 
To-day  we  are  having  gun  practice  on  board 
the  transport — trial  shots  for  the  subs  and  the 
cruiser  experimenting  with  balloon  observers. 
Such  are  our  interests.  .  .  .  Last  night  I  had 
a  wonderful  experience.  It  was  delightful — 
one  of  those  that  tickle  my  masculine  pride. 
I  was  detailed  in  charge  of  a  watch  in  the  for- 
ward crow's-nest — a  basket-like  affair  on  the 
very  top  of  the  foremast  about  150  feet  from 
the  water.  .  .  .  From  the  nest  you  get  a  won- 


76  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

derful  view — a  real  bird's-eye  view — for  the 
men  walking  on  the  deck  appear  as  pigmies, 
and  the  boats  following  in  our  trail  look  like 
dories.  Our  duty  is  to  watch  with  powerful 
glasses  for  any  traces  of  periscopes,  and  we  are 
connected  up  with  telephones  to  the  gunners 
who  are  always  ready  for  the  'call'  and  eager 
for  action.  This  is  only  the  first  of  the  thrilling 
experiences  which  I  expect,  or,  rather,  hope  to 
have."  But  that  convoy  arrived  safely,  too. 

The  convoy,  by  the  way,  was  largely  an  Amer- 
ican idea,  a  departure  from  the  policy  of  pro- 
tecting a  single  vessel.  A  group  of  craft  about 
to  cross,  sometimes  as  many  as  a  score  or  more, 
are  sent  forth  together  under  adequate  pro- 
tection of  destroyers  and  cruisers.  At  night 
towing-disks  are  dropped  astern.  These  are 
white  and  enable  the  rearward  vessels  to  keep 
their  distance  with  relation  to  those  steaming 
ahead.  The  destroyers  circle  in  and  about  the 
convoyed  craft,  which,  in  the  meantime,  are 
describing  zigzag  courses  in  order  that  sub- 
marines may  not  be  able  to  calculate  their  gun 
or  torpedo  fire  with  any  degree  of  accuracy. 

The  destroyers  shoot  in  front  of  bows  and 


LOSS  OF  THE    TUSCANIA  77 

around  sterns  with  impunity,  leaving  in  their 
trail  a  phosphorescent  wake.  Sometimes  in 
the  case  of  a  fast  liner  the  destroyers,  what 
with  the  high  speed  of  the  craft  they  are  pro- 
tecting and  the  uncertain  course,  narrowly 
escape  disaster.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  one  of 
them,  the  American  destroyer  Chauncey,  was  lost 
in  this  manner.  But  she  is  the  only  one. 

Here  is  a  letter  from  a  Yale  man,  a  sailor, 
which  contains  rather  a  tragic  story,  the  loss 
of  the  transport  Tuscania  under  British  con- 
voy: 

"I  could  see  a  lighthouse  here  and  there  on 
the  Irish  and  Scotch  shores,  and  though  I  knew 
there  were  plenty  of  ships  about  not  one  was 
to  be  seen.  (It  was  night,  of  course).  All  at 
once  I  saw  a  dull  flare  and  a  moment  after  a 
heavy  boom.  Then  about  half  a  mile  away 
the  Tuscania  stood  out  in  the  glare  of  all  the 
lights  suddenly  turned  on.  I  could  see  her 
painted  funnels  and  the  sides  clear  and  distinct 
against  the  dark.  Another  boom  and  the  lights 
and  the  ship  herself  vanished.  The  next  in- 
stant lights  and  rockets  began  to  go  up,  red 
and  white,  and  from  their  position  I  knew  they 


78  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

must  be  from  the  Tuscania  and  that  she  was 
falling  out  of  the  convoy.  Then  came  a  crash 
of  guns  and  a  heavier  shock  that  told  of  depth- 
bombs  and  the  blaze  of  a  destroyer's  search- 
lights— gone  again  in  an  instant — and  then 
absolute  silence." 

/The  sinking  of  the  Antilles  was  followed— 
October  25,  1917 — by  an  announcement  that 
thereafter  bluejackets  would  man  and  naval 
officers  command  all  transports.  Up  to  that 
time,  while  there  had  been  naval  guards  on  the 
transports,  the  crews  and  officers  of  ships  had 
been  civilians.  It  was  believed  that  highly 
disciplined  naval  men  would  be  more  effective 
than  the  constantly  shifting  crews  of  civilians. 
So  it  has  proved. 


CHAPTER  IV 

PESTROYERS  ON  GUARD — PREPARATIONS  OP  FLOTILLA  TO 
CROSS  THE  OCEAN — MEETING  THE  "ADRIATIC" FLO- 
TILLA ARRIVES  IN  QUEENSTOWN — RECEPTION  BY  BRITISH 

COMMANDER    AND     POPULACE "WE    ARE    READY    NOW, 

SIR" — ARRIVAL  OF  THE  FAMOUS  CAPTAIN  EVANS  ON  THE 

AMERICAN     FLAG-SHIP OUR    NAVY     A    WARM-WEATHER 

NAVY — LOSS   OF  THE    " VACUUM" 

WHEN  we  entered  the  war  the  Navy  De- 
partment had  one  definite  idea  con- 
cerning its  duty  with  regard  to  the  submarine. 
It  was  felt  that  it  was  more  necessary  to  deal 
drastically  with  this  situation  than  to  meet  it 
merely  by  building  a  large  fleet  of  cargo-carrying 
vessels  in  the  hope  that  a  sufficient  number  of 
them  would  escape  the  U-boats  to  insure  the 
carrying  of  adequate  food  and  supplies  to  France 
and  the  British  Isles.  The  view  was  taken  that, 
while  the  ship-building  programme  was  being 
carried  out — there  was  of  course  no  idea  of  not 
furthering  the  policy  embodied  in  the  plea  of 
the  British  statesman  for  ships,  ships  and  yet 
more  ships — means  should  be  taken  of  driving 
the  submarine  from  the  seas. 

We  held  the  attitude  that  the  nation  which 

79 


80  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

had  given  to  the  world  a  weapon  so  formidable 
as  the  undersea  fighter  had  within  it  the  ability 
to  devise  a  means  of  combating  it  successfully. 
And,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  long  before  we  went 
into  the  conflict  the  Navy  Department  had 
not  ignored  consideration  of  ways  and  means 
in  this  respect.  As  a  consequence,  when  the 
British  and  French  War  Commissions  arrived 
in  this  country  they  found  our  naval  officers 
bristling  with  ideas,  some  of  them  apparently 
so  feasible  that  the  British  naval  representatives 
were  both  pleased  and  astonished. 

We  do  not  know  all  that  passed  between  the 
Americans  and  the  British  with  regard  to  the 
submarine,  but  this  we  do  know:  that  the  Brit- 
ish went  back  to  England  with  a  greater  re- 
spect for  our  powers  of  constructive  thought 
than  they  had  when  they  reached  this  coun- 
try. Among  some  of  the  early  suggestions  was 
the  sowing  of  contact  mines  in  waters  through 
which  the  submarines  would  be  obliged  to  pass 
in  leaving  and  entering  their  bases.  Then  there 
was  the  scheme  of  protecting  vessels  in  groups, 
and  other  excellent  ideas  which  were  soon  put 
into  effect. 


DESTROYERS  TO  EUROPE  81 

Immediately  after  the  signing  of  the  war 
resolution  by  President  Wilson  the  Navy  De- 
partment proceeded  to  put  various  plans  into 
execution.  At  9.30  o'clock  one  warm  April 
night  commanders  of  various  destroyers  in 
service  along  the  coast  received  orders  to  pro- 
ceed at  daylight  to  the  home  navy-yards  and 
fit  out  with  all  despatch  for  distant  service. 
None  of  the  officers  knew  what  was  ahead,  not 
definitely,  that  is;  but  all  knew  that  the  future 
held  action  of  vital  sort  and  with  all  steam  the 
venomous  gray  destroyers  were  soon  darting 
up  and  down  the  coast  toward  their  various 
navy-yards,  at  Boston,  New  York,  and  else- 
where. 

Arriving  here,  the  vessels  went  at  once  into 
dry  dock  while  a  force  of  men  who  were  in  wait- 
ing proceeded  to  clean  and  paint  the  hulls,  while 
stores  and  provisions  to  last  three  months  were 
assembled.  In  a  few  days  the  flotilla  set  forth. 
No  commander  knew  where  he  was  going.  In- 
structions were  to  proceed  to  a  point  fifty  miles 
east  of  Cape  Cod,  and  there  to  open  sealed  in- 
structions. One  may  imagine  the  thoughts  of 
the  officers  and  crews  of  the  sea-fighters — which 


82  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

above  all  other  craft  had  signally  demonstrated 
the  fact  that  they  and  they  alone  were  quali- 
fied to  bring  the  fear  of  God,  as  the  navy  saying 
is,  to  the  Germans — as  they  ploughed  through 
the  seas  to  the  point  where  orders  might  be 
opened  and  the  way  ahead  made  clear. 

"And  when,"  said  a  destroyer  commander, 
speaking  of  that  trip,  "I  got  to  the  designated 
point  at  midnight,  I  opened  my  orders  and 
found  that  we  were  to  make  for  Queenstown. 
You  may  be  sure  I  breathed  a  fervent  cheer, 
for  I  had  been  itching  for  a  crack  at  the  sub 
ever  since  certain  events  off  Nantucket  the 
preceding  fall." 

The  flotilla  took  ten  days  in  making  the 
journey,  the  time  thus  consumed  being  due  to 
a  southeast  gale  which  accompanied  the  boats 
for  the  first  seven  days  of  the  journey.  There 
were  various  incidents,  but  nothing  of  the  dra- 
matic save  the  picking  up  and  escorting  of  the 
big  British  liner  Adriatic,  and  later  the  meeting 
300  miles  off  the  Irish  coast  of  the  brave  little 
British  destroyer  Mary  Rose,  which  had  been 
sent  out  to  meet  the  Americans.  The  Mary 
Rose,  by  the  way,  was  sunk  three  months  later 


AT  QUEENSTOWN  83 

by  a  German  raider.  The  commander  of  the 
Mary  Rose  assured  the  Americans  that  they 
would  be  welcome  and  that  their  co-operation 
would  be  highly  appreciated. 

One  may  fancy  so.  Things  were  looking 
exceedingly  black  about  that  time.  In  the 
previous  three  weeks  submarines  had  sunk 
152  British  merchant  vessels,  and  patrol-vessels 
each  day  were  bringing  in  survivors  of  the  va- 
rious victims.  It  was  a  situation  which  could 
not  go  on  if  the  British  cause  were  not  to  be 
very  seriously  injured.  The  question  of  sup- 
plies, food,  munitions,  and  the  like,  for  which 
both  France  and  England  were  relying  upon  the 
United  States  to  furnish,  was  looming  vitally. 
This  country  had  the  things  to  send,  all  cargoes, 
of  all  sorts.  But  to  send  them  to  the  war  zone 
and  then  have  them  lost  was  a  heart-breaking 
situation  for  every  one  concerned. 

One  thus  is  able  to  imagine  the  emotions 
with  which  the  British  at  Queenstown  received 
our  flotilla  when  it  came  in  from  the  sea  on 
the  morning  of  May  13.  Motion  pictures  of 
this  eventful  arrival  have  been  shown  in  this 
country,  with  the  result  that  we  who  were  not 


84  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

there  have  an  impression  of  a  crowded  water- 
front, of  American  flags  flying  everywhere,  of 
the  American  commander  leaving  his  vessel 
and  going  ashore  to  call  upon  the  British  com- 
mander Admiral  Sir  Lewis  Bayly  and  the  Hon- 
orable Wesley  Frost,  the  American  Consul  at 
Queenstown.  The  destroyers  had  steamed  into 
the  harbor  in  a  long  line  and  with  great  pre- 
cision came  to  a  stop  at  the  designated  moor- 
ings. All  this,  as  said,  we  have  seen  on  the  film, 
as  we  have  seen  the  British  and  American  of- 
ficers going  through  the  motions  of  formal  felici- 
tation. What  was  said,  however,  came  to  us 
through  another  medium.  Admiral  Bayly,  after 
the  formal  ceremony  of  greeting  was  ended,  said 
with  British  directness: 

"When  will  you  be  ready  for  business?" 

The  reply  was  prompt: 

"We  can  start  at  once,  sir." 

Admiral  Bayly  did  not  attempt  to  conceal 
his  surprise,  but  he  made  no  comment  until 
after  he  had  completed  a  tour  of  the  various 
American  craft.  Then  he  turned  to  the  Amer- 
ican commander: 

"You  were  right  about  being  prepared." 


CAPTAIN  EVANS  85 

"Yes,"  returned  the  American;  "we  made 
preparations  in  the  course  of  the  trip  over.  That 
is  why  we  are  ready." 

"Very  good,"  smiled  the  British  commander. 
"You  are  a  fine  body  of  men  and  your  boats 
look  just  as  fit."  As  a  matter  of  fact,  while  all 
equipment  was  found  to  be  in  excellent  con- 
dition and  the  men  ready  and  eager  to  go  out 
after  submarines,  it  was  deemed  best  to  send 
one  or  two  of  the  craft  to  dry  dock  to  have  their 
hulls  inspected  and,  if  necessary,  shorn  of  all 
barnacles  or  other  marine  growth  that  might 
have  become  attached  to  the  plating  on  the 
journey  across. 

In  the  meantime  had  occurred  a  very  pretty 
incident  which  is  now  one  of  the  stock  stories 
in  the  ward-rooms  of  British  and  American 
sea-fighters  in  European  waters.  It  seems  that 
not  long  before  the  destroyers  were  due  to  ar- 
rive Captain  Edward  R.  G.  R.  Evans,  C.  B., 
who  was  second  in  command  of  the  Scott  Ant- 
arctic Expedition,  came  up  the  Thames  on  board 
his  battered  destroyer,  the  Broke.  Now,  the 
Broke  on  the  night  of  April  20,  off  Dover,  had 
been  engaged  in  an  action  which  stands  as  one 


86  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAH 

of  the  glorious  achievements  at  arms  in  the 
annals  of  sea-fighting.  The  Broke  that  night 
was  attacked  by  six  German  destroyers  and, 
after  a  battle  characterized  by  bulwark  rasping 
against  bulwark,  by  boarding-parties,  hand-to- 
hand  fighting,  and  all  the  elements  that  make 
the  pages  of  Mayne  Reid  thrilling,  defeated 
the  six  destroyers  and  proceeded  to  port  with 
flags  flying. 

With  all  this  in  mind  the  admiralty  decided 
to  pay  the  Americans  the  distinguished  com- 
pliment of  attaching  Captain  Evans  to  the 
American  flag-ship  as  a  sort  of  liaison  officer. 
So  when  the  American  flotilla  was  reported, 
the  British  hero  set  forth  and  in  good  time 
boarded  the  flag-ship  of  the  flotilla.  He  was 
accompanied  by  a  young  aide,  and  both  were 
received  with  all  courtesy  by  the  American 
commander.  But  the  British  aide  could  see 
that  the  American  had  not  associated  his  visitor 
with  the  man  whose  laurels  were  still  fresh  not 
only  as  an  explorer  but  as  a  fighter. 

There  was  talk  of  quarters  for  Captain 
Evans,  and  the  American  commander  seemed 
doubtful  just  where  to  put  his  guest.  Finally 


HOSPITALITY  87 

he  sent  the  British  officer  below  with  a  lieu- 
tenant to  see  what  could  be  done.  When  the 
two  had  disappeared  Evans's  aide  turned  to 
the  American  commander. 

"I  don't  think,"  he  said,  flushing  rather  dif- 
fidently, that  you  quite  grasped  just  who  you 
have  on  board,  and  then  with  great  distinct- 
ness he  added:  "He  is  R.  G.  R.  Evans. 
He " 

There  came  an  exclamation  from  the  Amer- 
ican, and  stepping  forward  he  seized  the  young 
officer  by  the  shoulders. 

"Do  you  mean  to  say  that  he  is  Evans  of 
the  Broke  ?"  he  cried. 

As  the  Briton  nodded  and  was  about  to  speak, 
the  American  leaped  from  his  side,  made  the 
companion-ladder,  and  fairly  tumbled  below. 
Approaching  Captain  Evans,  he  said: 

"Captain  Evans,  my  apologies;  I  didn't  quite 
place  you  at  first.  I  merely  wish  to  tell  you 
now  not  to  worry  about  quarters.  I  say  this 
because  you  are  going  to  have  my  bunk — and 
I — I  am  going  to  sleep  on  the  floor." 

And  here  is  a  little  incident  which  occurred 
when  the  destroyers  picked  up  and  escorted 


88  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

the  Adriatic  of  the  White  Star  Line.  As  may 
be  imagined,  the  Americans  on  board  were  de- 
lighted to  see  a  destroyer  with  an  American 
flag  darting  about  the  great  vessel  like  a  por- 
poise, while  the  British  appreciated  to  the  full 
the  significance  of  the  occasion — so  much  so 
that  the  following  message  was  formulated  and 
wirelessed  to  the  destroyer: 

"British  passengers  on  board  a  steamship 
bound  for  a  British  port  under  the  protection  of 
an  American  torpedo-boat  destroyer  send  their 
hearty  greetings  to  her  commander  and  her  offi- 
cers and  crew  and  desire  t<*  express  their  keen 
appreciation  of  this  practical  co-operation  be- 
tween the  government  and  people  of  the  United 
States  and  the  British  Empire  who  are  now 
fighting  together  for  the  freedom  of  the  seas." 

One  may  imagine  with  what  emotions  the 
officers  and  men  of  the  American  war-ship, 
bound  for  duty  in  enemy  seas  and  at  the  very 
outset  having  a  great  greyhound  intrusted  to 
their  care,  received  this  glowing  despatch. 

There  were  many  functions  attending  the 
arrival  of  the  Americans  at  Queenstown,  aside 
from  those  already  set  forth.  Many  of  the 


UP  THE  RIVER  LEE  89 

seamen  were  granted  shore-leave  and  were 
immediately  captured  by  the  townspeople,  who 
took  them  to  their  homes  and  entertained  most 
lavishly.  They  were  the  first  American  naval 
men  that  the  Queenstowners  had  seen  at  close 
quarters  in  years,  and  the  bluejackets  were 
bombarded  with  questions. 

And  while  the  jackies  were  thus  being  treated 
the  American  officers  made  a  memorable  visit 
to  Cork.  They  journeyed  up  the  River  Lee  in 
an  admiral's  barge  accompanied  by  Captain 
Evans.  At  the  Cork  custom-house  they  were 
met  by  distinguished  military  officers,  by  the 
lord-lieutenant  of  the  county,  and  by  the  lord 
mayor  of  Cork.  It  was  a  most  memorable 
occasion,  and  when  they  returned  they  found 
the  British  and  American  seamen  on  such  good 
terms  that  the  two  bodies  had  already  tried 
each  other  out  in  friendly  fisticuffs,  the  net 
results  being  common  respect  one  for  the  other. 

Announcement  of  the  arrival  of  the  Amer- 
ican vessels  was  made  by  the  British  Admiralty, 
the  American  Navy  Department,  with  a  modest 
reticence  which  ever  since  has  been  charac- 
teristic, saying  nothing  until  the  time  came  to 


90  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

confirm  the  admiralty's  statement.  In  doing 
this  Secretary  Daniels  announced  that  as  a 
matter  of  fact  an  American  flotilla  of  destroyers 
had  arrived  at  an  English  port  on  May  4,  and 
the  vessels  thereof  engaged  in  the  work  of  sub- 
marine hunting  in  both  the  Atlantic  and  in 
co-operation  with  the  French  in  the  Mediter- 
ranean. About  the  same  time  it  was  stated 
that  a  body  of  naval  aviators,  the  first  Amer- 
ican fighting-men  to  serve  from  the  shore,  had 
been  landed  in  England. 

Soon  after  this  announcement  came  another 
from  Washington,  giving  an  interchange  of 
wireless  amenities  between  Vice-Admiral  Sir 
David  Beatty,  commander  of  the  British  Grand 
Fleet,  to  Rear-Admiral  Henry  T.  Mayo,  com- 
manding the  United  States  Atlantic  Fleet: 

"The  Grand  Fleet  rejoices  that  the  Atlantic 
Fleet  will  share  in  preserving  the  liberties  of  the 
world  and  maintaining  the  chivalry  of  the  sea." 

And  Admiral  Mayo's  reply: 

"The  United  States  Atlantic  Fleet  appre- 
ciates the  message  from  the  British  Fleet,  and 
welcomes  opportunities  for  work  with  the 
British  Fleet  for  the  freedom  of  the  seas." 


REDUCED  LOSSES  91 

In  confirming  the  British  announcement  of 
the  arrival  of  the  flotilla  at  Queenstown,  Secre- 
tary Daniels  said: 

"It  has  been  the  purpose  of  the  United  States 
Navy  to  give  the  largest  measure  of  assistance 
to  other  countries  at  war  with  Germany  that 
is  consistent  with  the  full  and  complete  pro- 
tection of  our  own  coast  and  territorial  waters." 

Within  a  week  after  the  arrival  of  our  flotilla 
at  Queenstown,  the  vessels  thereof  ranging  the 
seas  side  by  side  with  the  British,  submarine 
losses  showed  a  marked  reduction,  and  it  was 
even  more  marked  the  second  week  of  our  co- 
operation. It  was  also  stated  that  more  sub- 
marines had  been  sunk  in  the  week  of  May 
12  than  in  the  previous  month. 

In  preparing  for  co-operation  with  the 
British  destroyers,  the  American  officers  re- 
ceived lectures  on  the  subject  of  effective  sub- 
marine fighting,  while  depth-bombs  and  ap- 
pliances for  releasing  them  were  supplied  to 
the  American  boats,  and  all  surplus  gear  and 
appurtenances  of  various  sorts  were  taken  from 
the  American  vessels  and  stored  ashore. 

It  was  noted  as  a  curious  fact  that  the  United 


92  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

States  Navy  had  really  been  a  warm-weather 
navy.  The  ships  were  sent  south  in  winter 
for  drills  and  target  practice,  usually  in  Guan- 
tanamo  Bay;  in  the  spring  they  engaged  in 
manoeuvres  off  the  Virginia  Capes,  and  in 
summer  went  to  Newport,  Provincetown,  and 
other  New  England  points.  Again,  life  in  a 
destroyer  on  the  wintry  Atlantic  was  not  the 
most  comfortable  life  in  the  world.  There  were 
cold  fogs,  icy  winds  and  fearful  storms  in  the 
war  zone,  and  the  thin  steel  hulls  of  the  de- 
stroyers offered  little  in  the  way  of  creature 
comforts.  This  fact  perhaps  gave  color  to  the 
report  from  Queenstown  that  our  men  were 
prepared  in  every  respect  save  that  of  clothing, 
a  statement  that  was  indignantly  refuted  by  the 
Navy  Department,  and  a  list  of  the  garments 
furnished  the  sailors  was  submitted.  It  was 
an  adequate  list  and  quite  effectually  silenced 
further  rumors  on  that  score.  As  a  matter  of 
fact,  no  complaint  ever  came  from  the  jackies 
themselves.  They  had  sea-boots,  pea-jackets, 
short,  heavy  double-breasted  overcoats,  knitted 
watch-caps,  heavy  woollen  socks,  jerseys,  extra 
jackets  of  lambskin  wool,  oil-skins,  and  navy 


AN  UNGALLANT  POET  93 

uniform  suits — a  complete  outfit  surely.  In 
the  meantime  the  young  women,  elderly  women, 
too,  of  the  country  were  busily  engaged  in  knit- 
ting helmets,  sweaters,  mittens,  and  the  like. 
Some  of  the  girls,  more  romantic  than  others, 
inserted  their  names  and  addresses  in  the  ar- 
ticles they  sent  to  the  sailors.  Here  is  a  little 
jeu  df esprit  that  one  girl  received  from  a  sailor 
of  Admiral  Sims's  command: 

"Some  sox;   some  fit! 
I  used  one  for  a  helmet. 
And  one  for  a  mitt. 
I  hope  I  shall  meet  you 
When  I've  done  my  bit. 
But  who  in  the  devil 
Taught  you  to  knit?" 

The  reader  may  be  sure  that  other,  many 
other,  more  appreciative  messages  were  sent 
to  the  devoted  young  women  of  the  country, 
and  that  in  many  cases  interesting  correspon- 
dence was  opened. 

On  May  25,  1917,  Admiral  Sims  cabled  to 
Secretary  Daniels  that  Berlin  knew  of  Amer- 
ican plans  for  sending  our  destroyers  to  Europe 
four  days  before  the  vessels  arrived  at  Queens- 
town,  and  that  twelve  mines  had  been  placed 


94  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

across  the  entrance  to  the  harbor  the  day  before 
the  destroyer  flotilla  reached  their  destination. 
The  activity  of  British  mine-sweepers  prevented 
whatever  might  have  occurred.  This  gave 
rise  to  considerable  discussion  in  this  country 
as  to  German  spies  here,  and  as  an  instance  of 
their  work  in  keeping  in  touch  with  naval  af- 
fairs the  following  story  was  told  in  naval  circles: 
When  the  oil-ship  Vacuum,  with  Lieutenant 
Thomas  and  a  naval  gun  crew  on  board,  sailed 
from  this  country,  the  captain  had  instruc- 
tions where  to  pick  up  British  destroyers  at  a 
certain  point  off  the  Irish  coast.  The  Vacuum 
arrived  at  the  designated  spot,  and  before  the 
war-ships  arrived  a  submarine  appeared  out  of 
the  water. 

"I  see,"  said  the  German  commander,  ap- 
pearing out  of  the  conning- tower,  "that  you 
kept  your  appointment." 

And  then  the  Vacuum  was  sent  to  the  bottom. 
Later,  under  the  convoy  system,  submarines 
began  to  be  very  wary  in  the  matter  of  trium- 
phant conversations  with  officers  of  merchant- 
men. In  fact,  this  appears  to  have  been  the 
last  interchange  of  the  sort. 


WORK  OF  DESTROYERS  95 

Working  with  the  British,  the  American  de- 
stroyers patrolled  the  seas  six  days  at  a  stretch, 
each  craft  being  assigned  to  a  certain  area,  as 
far  out  as  three  hundred  miles  off  shore.  Re- 
turning to  port,  the  destroyers  would  lie  at  their 
moorings  two  and  three  days.  Later  the  time 
in  port  was  reduced.  But  it  depended  upon 
conditions.  The  orders  to  the  Americans  were: 
first,  destroy  submarines;  second,  escort  and 
convoy  merchant  ships;  third,  save  lives.  And 
in  all  three  respects  the  Americans  from  the 
very  outset  have  so  conducted  themselves  and 
their  craft  as  to  earn  the  highest  encomiums 
from  the  Entente  admiralties. 

The  Americans  entered  very  heartily  into 
their  work,  and  developed  ideas  of  their  own, 
some  of  which  the  British  were  very  glad  to 
adopt.  Between  the  men  of  the  two  navies 
there  has  been  the  best  sort  of  feeling. 


CHAPTER  V 

BRITISH  AND  AMERICAN  DESTROYERS  OPERATING  HAND  IN 
HAND — ARRIVAL  OF  NAVAL  COLLIER  "  JUPITER" SUC- 
CESSFUL TRIP  OF  TRANSPORTS  BEARING  UNITED  STATES 
SOLDIERS  CONVOYED  BY  NAVAL  VESSELS — ATTACK  ON 
TRANSPORTS  WARDED  OFF  BY  DESTROYERS — SECRETARY 
BAKER  THANKS  SECRETARY  DANIELS — VISIT  TO  OUR 
DESTROYER  BASE — ATTITUDE  OF  OFFICERS  TOWARD  MEN 

—  GENESIS     OF     THE     SUBMARINE THE     CONFEDERATE 

SUBMARINE    "HUNLEY" 

\  CORRESPONDENT  who  visited  the 
-/JL  British  base  on  the  Irish  coast  a  month 
after  the  arrival  of  the  Americans,  found  the 
two  fleets  operating  hand  in  hand  and  doing 
effective  work.  With  the  boats  out  four  and 
five,  and  then  in  port  coaling  and  loading  sup- 
plies two  and  three  days,  the  seamen  were  get- 
ting practically  half  a  day  shore-leave  every 
week.  The  seamen  endured  the  routine  grind 
of  patrol  and  convoy  work,  accepting  it  as  the 
price  to  be  paid  for  the  occasional  fights  with 
submarines. 

An  assignment  to  convoy  a  liner  from  home 
is  regarded  as  a  choice  morsel,  and  the  boats 
that  get  the  job  are  looked  upon  as  favored 

96 


ADMIRAL  SIMS  APPRECIATED  97 

craft.  The  transatlantic  passengers  invariably 
make  a  fuss  over  the  Americans,  and  the  inter- 
change of  amenities  gives  our  sailors  concrete 
evidence  of  how  their  work  is  regarded  in  this 
country. 

On  June  6,  1917,  Secretary  Daniels,  with 
warrantable  pride,  announced  the  arrival  in  a 
French  port  of  the  naval  collier  Jupiter,  with 
10,500  tons  of  wheat  and  other  supplies.  The 
Jupiter  is  nearly  as  large  as  a  battleship,  and 
stands  out  of  the  water  like  a  church.  Never- 
theless, the  collier,  completely  armed  and  well 
able  to  take  care  of  herself,  made  the  trip  with- 
out convoy.  She  was  the  first  electrically  pro- 
pelled vessel  of  large  size  ever  built,  and  her 
performance  was  so  good  that  it  led  to  the  adop- 
tion of  the  electric  drive  for  all  our  new  battle- 
ships and  cruisers. 

In  the  meantime,  with  our  destroyers  working 
valiantly  in  the  fight  against  the  submarines, 
Admiral  Sims,  their  commander,  had  made 
himself  indispensable  to  the  British  Admiralty, 
whose  high  regard  was  manifested  on  June  19, 
when,  as  already  noted,  he  was  appointed  to 
take  charge  of  operations  of  the  Allied  naval 


98  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

forces  in  Irish  waters  while  the  British  com- 
mander-in-chief  was  absent  for  a  short  period. 
Washington  had  given  wide  powers  to  Admiral 
Sims  to  the  end  that  he  might  be  in  a  position 
to  meet  any  emergency  that  might  arise.  While 
much  of  his  time  was  spent  in  Paris  and  London, 
his  home  was  at  the  Irish  base,  a  fine  old  man- 
sion 300  feet  above  the  town,  with  beautiful 
lawns  and  gardens,  having  been  turned  over  to 
him. 

In  June  of  1917,  June  4,  it  was  announced  in 
Washington  that  an  American  squadron  had 
arrived  in  South  American  waters  in  accor- 
dance with  the  plan  of  relieving  British  and 
French  cruisers  of  patrol  duty  in  waters  of  the 
western  hemisphere,  merely  one  more  instance 
of  the  scope  of  the  plans  which  the  Navy  De- 
partment had  formulated  when  we  entered  the 
war. 

On  June  25  came  word  that  the  first  American 
convoy  (transports  with  American  troops),  un- 
der direction  of  Rear-Admiral  Albert  M.  Gleaves, 
commander  of  our  convoy  system,  had  arrived 
safely  at  a  port  in  France.  On  July  3  the  last 
units  of  ships  with  supplies  and  horses  reached 


ATTACK  ON  CONVOY  99 

its  destination.  The  expedition  was  divided 
into  contingents,  each  contingent  including 
troop-ships  and  an  escort  of  sea-fighters.  An 
ocean  rendezvous  with  American  destroyers  op- 
erating in  European  waters  was  arranged,  and 
carried  out  in  minutest  detail. 

The  convoy  did  not  cross  the  seas  without  in- 
cident. In  the  newspapers  of  July  4  the  coun- 
try was  electrified  by  a  statement  issued  by  the 
Creel  bureau  of  a  rather  thrilling  combat  be- 
tween war-ships  attached  to  the  convoy  and 
German  submarines,  in  which  the  U-boat  was 
badly  worsted.  Details  were  given,  and  all  in 
all  the  whole  affair  as  presented  was  calculated 
to  give  the  utmost  unction  to  American  pride. 
Next  day,  however,  came  a  despatch  from 
the  American  flotilla  base  in  British  waters 
which  set  forth  that  the  story  of  the  attack  as 
published  in  the  United  States  was  inaccurate. 
There  was  no  submarine  attack,  said  the  report, 
and  no  submarine  was  seen.  One  destroyer  did 
drop  a  depth-bomb,  but  this  was  merely  by  way 
of  precaution.  Quite  a  stir  followed,  and  it 
was  not  until  Secretary  Daniels  some  time 
later  published  facts  as  set  forth  in  a  cipher 


100  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

message  from  Admiral  Gleaves  that  the  country 
realized  that,  while  the  original  account  was 
somewhat  overdrawn,  there  was  substantial 
ground  for  the  belief  that  several  transports 
had  had  narrow  escapes.  To  a  correspon- 
dent who  was  on  one  of  the  transports  we  are 
indebted  for  the  following  narrative  of  the 
attack: 

"It  was  past  midnight.  The  flotilla  was 
sweeping  through  a  calm  sea  miles  from  the 
point  of  debarkation,  and  tense  nerves  were  be- 
ginning to  relax.  The  sky  was  cloudy  and  the 
moon  obscured,  but  the  phosphorescence  of 
water  common  in  these  latitudes  at  this  season 
marked  the  prow  and  wake  of  the  advancing 
ships  with  lines  of  smoky  flame.  It  was  this, 
perhaps,  that  saved  us  from  disaster — this  and 
the  keenness  of  American  eyes,  and  the  straight- 
ness  of  American  shooting.  From  the  high- 
flung  superstructure  of  a  big  ship  one  of  the 
eager  lookouts  noted  an  unwonted  line  of  shin- 
ing foam  on  the  port  bow.  In  a  second  he  re- 
alized that  here  at  last  was  the  reality  of  peril. 
It  could  be  nothing  else  than  the  periscope  of  a 
submarine.  The  Germans  were  not  less  swift 


IN  ACTION  101 

in  action.  Almost  at  the  moment  that  the 
alarm  was  given  a  gleaming  line  of  bubbles, 
scarcely  twenty  feet  from  the  bow  of  one  of  the 
transports  wherein  thousands  were  sleeping,  an- 
nounced the  torpedo  with  its  fatal  burden  of 
explosive.  Then  'hell  broke  loose.'  Firing  ev- 
ery gun  available,  the  big  ship  swung  on  a 
wide  circle  out  of  line  to  the  left.  A  smaller 
war-ship  slipped  into  the  place  of  the  big  fighter, 
driving  shells  into  the  sea.  Whether  any  landed 
or  not  may  not  be  said.  The  Germans  fired 
three,  if  not  four,  torpedoes.  It  was  God's 
mercy  that  they  all  went  as, tray  among  so  many 
of  our  ships.  The  whole  business  lasted  only 
a  minute  and  a  half.  I  know,  because  one  of 
those  Easterners  from  somewhere  up  in  Maine 
coolly  timed  the  mix-up  with  his  stop-watch. 
But  believe  me,  it  added  more  than  that  time 
to  my  life.  The  second  attack  occurred  next 
morning.  Every  living  soul  on  the  transports 
had  been  thrilled  by  the  news  of  the  night's 
events,  and  from  early  hours  the  decks  were 
lined  with  amateur  lookouts.  The  morning  was 
fine,  and  a  light  breeze  rippled  up  wavelets  that 
twinkled  in  the  sunlight.  Suddenly  about  10.30 


102  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

o'clock  there  came  a  wild  yell  from  one  of  the 
leading  transports.  Though  the  jackies  affect 
to  dispute  it,  I  was  assured  that  it  was  from  a 
far-sighted  youngster  from  Arizona,  who  first 
descried  and  then  announced  the  deadly  line 
of  bubbles.  '  No  periscope  was  visible  this  time, 
and  for  the  first  moment  those  on  the  bridges  of 
the  destroyers  were  incredulous.  Then  the  un- 
mistakable bubble  lines  clean  across  the  bows 
put  the  certainty  of  danger  beyond  question. 
Once  again  fortune  favored  us.  The  submarine 
was  in  front  instead  of  in  the  deadliest  position 
on  the  flank  toward  the  rear.  Perhaps  the 
U-boat  commander  was  rattled  by  the  magni- 
tude of  his  opportunity.  Perhaps  one  of  his 
excited  pirates  let  go  too  soon.  Anyway,  it  is 
agreed  by  experts  that  he  would  have  been  far 
more  dangerous  had  he  waited  unseen  until 
part  of  the  flotilla  at  least  had  passed  beyond 
him. 

"Dearly  did  the  Germans  pay  for  their  error. 
Like  a  striking  rattlesnake,  one  of  our  destroy- 
ers darted  between  a  couple  of  transports. 
Her  nose  was  so  deep  in  the  sea  as  to  be  almost 
buried,  while  a  great  wave  at  the  stern  threw 


ONE  MORE  "SUB"  GONE  103 

a  shower  of  spray  on  the  soldiers  massed  at  the 
transport's  bow.  That  destroyer  ran  right 
along  the  line  of  bubbles  like  a  hound  following 
a  trail,  and  when  it  came  to  the  spot  where  the 
commander  estimated  the  submarine  must  be 
lurking,  he  released  a  depth-bomb.  A  column 
of  smoke  and  foam  rose  fifty  feet  in  the  air, 
and  the  destroyer  herself  rose  half  out  of  the 
water  under  the  shock  of  the  explosion.  It  is 
said  that  in  the  midst  of  the  column  of  water 
were  seen  fragments  of  steel  and  wood,  and  oil 
also  was  reported  on  the  water.  This  meant 
that  at  least  one  submarine  had  paid  the  su- 
preme price  for  the  spread  of  kultur  on  the  high 
seas." 

As  in  all  thrilling  incidents  of  the  sort,  there 
was  a  note  of  comedy.  It  was  supplied  by  a 
negro  roustabout  on  one  of  the  large  transports. 
This  darky  throughout  the  trip  had  been  very 
fearful  of  submarines,  and  when  the  actual  mo- 
ment of  danger  came  he  acted  upon  a  pre- 
determined course,  and  shinned  up  the  main- 
mast as  though  Old  Nick  himself  were  at  his 
heels.  When  the  excitement  was  over  an  offi- 
cer called  up  to  him: 


104  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

"Hello,  up  there;  come  down.     It's  all  over." 

"Me  come  down,"  came  the  voice  from  on 
high.  "Mistah  officah,  I  ain't  nevah  gwine  to 
come  down;  no  suh.  De  place  fo  man  is  on  de 
dry  land,  yas  suh.  Ocean  wa'nt  nevah  made 
for  man;  de  ocean's  fo  fishes,  dat's  all.  I'm 
gwine  to  stay  up  heah  until  I  see  de  land.  Den 
I'se  gwine  to  jump." 

History  fails  to  record  how  long  he  remained 
in  his  retreat.  Probably  until  he  became  hungry. 

This,  then,  appears  to  be  what  happened  to 
our  first  convoy.  That  there  was  an  attack 
upon  the  convoy  by  submarines  in  force,  as  set 
forth  in  the  original  statement  from  Washington, 
now  seems  altogether  unlikely,  and  whether  our 
destroyers  sunk  one  or  more  of  the  undersea 
assailants  is  a  matter  of  opinion.  It  does,  how- 
ever, seem  likely  that  the  one  waging  the  second 
attack  was  accounted  for. 

The  War  Department  was  not  slow  to  recog- 
nize the  effectiveness  with  which  our  navy  had 
transported  the  first  oversea  expedition  to  France 
as  the  following  message  from  Secretary  of 
War  Newton  D.  Baker  to  Secretary  Daniels 
will  show. 


FROM  SECRETARY  BAKER  105 

"War  Department, 

"Washington,  July  3. 

"Word  has  just  come  to  the  War  Department 
that  the  last  ships  conveying  Gen.  Pershing's 
expeditionary  force  arrived  safely  to-day.  As 
you  know,  the  Navy  Department  assumed  the 
responsibility  for  the  safety  of  these  ships  on 
the  sea  and  through  the  danger  zone.  The 
ships  themselves  and  their  convoys  were  in  the 
hands  of  the  navy,  and  now  that  they  have  ar- 
rived and  carried  without  the  loss  of  a  man  our 
soldiers  who  are  first  to  represent  America  in 
the  battle  for  Democracy,  I  beg  leave  to  tender 
to  you,  to  the  admiral,  and  to  the  navy  the 
hearty  thanks  of  the  War  Department  and  of 
the  army.  This  splendid  achievement  is  an 
auspicious  beginning,  and  it  has  been  character- 
ized throughout  by  the  most  cordial  and  effec- 
tive co-operation  between  the  two  military 
services. 

"Cordially  yours, 

"NEWTON  D.  BAKER." 

In  the  meantime  Americans  living  in  England 
had  organized  to  do  everything  in  their  power 


106  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

to  make  the  lives  of  the  seamen  of  the  destroyer 
fleet  comfortable.  Plans  were  at  once  formu- 
lated and  work  begun  on  a  club,  the  United 
States  Naval  Men's  Club  at  the  American  base. 
This  club,  which  is  now  completed,  contains 
dormitories,  shower-baths,  a  canteen,  and  a  bil- 
liard room  with  two  pool-tables.  There  is  an 
auditorium  for  moving-picture  shows  and  other 
entertainments,  reading-rooms,  and  in  fact  ev- 
erything that  would  tend  to  make  the  men 
feel  at  home  and  divert  their  leisure  hours. 

A  correspondent  for  the  Associated  Press,  who 
visited  the  club  when  it  was  completed,  has  testi- 
fied to  its  great  attractiveness,  and  from  his 
pen  also  has  come  the  most  effective  description 
of  our  destroyers  as  they  return  to  their  base 
from  duty  in  the  North  Sea.  One  destroyer 
which  he  inspected  had  had  the  good  fortune 
to  be  able  to  bring  back  the  crews  of  two 
torpedoed  merchantmen.  The  mariners  were 
picked  up  on  the  fourth  day  out,  and  had  the 
'unique  experience  of  joining  in  a  lookout  for 
their  undoers  before  the  destroyer  returned  to  its 
base.  Despite  her  battles  with  heavy  seas  and 
high  winds,  the  destroyer  was  as  fit  as  any  of  her 


OUR  DESTROYERS  107 

sister  craft  lying  at  anchor  near  by.  Her  brass- 
work  glistened  in  the  sunshine,  and  her  decks 
were  as  clean  as  a  good  housewife's  kitchen. 
The  crew,  a  majority  of  them  mere  boys,  were 
going  about  their  work  with  every  manifesta- 
tion of  contentment. 

'They  are,"  observed  the  commander,  "the 
most  alert  sailors  in  the  world."  The  destroyer 
carried  five  4-inch  guns,  the  type  most  used 
on  destroyers.  Ten  feet  behind  the  guns  were 
cases  of  shells,  each  shell  weighing  sixty  pounds. 
When  firing  upon  a  submarine  the  shells  are 
passed  by  hand  to  the  gunners — no  small  task 
when  the  sea  is  heavy.  At  the  gun  the  gunner 
is  equipped  with  a  head-gear,  like  that  worn 
by  telephone  girls,  through  which  he  receives 
sighting  directions  from  the  officer  on  the  bridge. 
Speaking-tubes  also  convey  messages  from  the 
bridge  to  the  gunners. 

These  "voice-tubes,"  as  they  are  called,  run 
to  all  the  guns,  but  take  the  most  circuitous 
routes,  running  way  below  deck  in  order  that 
damage  by  shell-fire  to  the  upper  part  of  the 
vessel  might  not  affect  communication  from  the 
bridge  to  the  gunners.  On  different  parts  of 


108  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

the  deck  were  three  canvas-covered  boxes,  each 
containing  six  loaded  rifles,  eighteen  in  all. 
These  were  for  use  against  boarding-parties. 

The  vessel  also  contained  numerous  torpedo- 
tubes,  always  loaded.  The  destroyer  registered 
about  a  thousand  tons,  and  carried  a  crew  of 
ninety -five  men,  who  were  reported  as  "a  great 
happy  family."  The  commanding  officer  said 
that  there  was  surprisingly  little  homesickness 
among  the  men,  many  of  whom  had  never  be- 
fore been  so  far  from  their  native  land. 

"We  invite  questions  and  suggestions  from 
our  men,"  said  one  of  the  officers  to  the  corre- 
spondent. "We  want  them  to  feel  that  no  one 
is  ever  too  old  to  learn." 

The  seamen  sleep  on  berths  suspended  from 
the  steel  walls  of  the  destroyers,  berths  which, 
when  not  in  use,  can  be  closed  very  much  after 
the  manner  of  a  folding  bed.  When  "sub- 
marined" crews  are  rescued  the  sailors  will- 
ingly give  up  their  comfortable  berths  and  do 
everything  else  in  their  power  to  make  the 
shipwrecked  mariners  comfortable.  The  men 
receive  their  mail  from  home  uncensored.  It 
arrives  about  every  ten  days  in  bags  sealed  in 


A  GREAT  GAME  109 

the  United  States.  Their  own  letters,  how- 
ever, are  censored,  not  only  by  an  officer  aboard 
ship,  but  by  a  British  censor.  However,  there 
has  been  little  or  no  complaint  by  the  men  on 

the  ground  of  being  unable  to  say  what  they 

m 

wish  to  their  loved  ones. 

"The  men,"  wrote  an  officer  recently,  "look 
upon  submarine- hunting  as  a  great  game.  The 
only  time  they  are  discontented  is  when  a  situa- 
tion which  looks  like  an  approaching  fight  re- 
solves itself  into  nothing.  The  seas  of  the  war 
zone  are,  of  course,  filled  with  all  sorts  of  flot- 
sam and  jetsam,  and  very  often  that  which  ap- 
pears to  be  a  periscope  is  nothing  of  the  sort. 
But  when  a  real  one  comes — then  the  men  ac- 
cept it  as  a  reward." 

In  view  of  all  that  has  been  said  thus  far  and 
remains  to  be  said  concerning  the  submarine, 
it  might  be  well  to  digress  for  a  moment  and 
devote  the  remainder  of  this  chapter  to  a  con- 
sideration of  the  undersea  fighter,  its  genesis, 
what  it  now  is,  and  what  it  has  accomplished. 
We  all  know  that  the  submarine  was  given  to 
the  world  by  an  American  inventor — that  is  to 


110  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

say,  the  submarine  in  very  much  the  form  that 
we  know  it  to-day,  the  effective,  practical  sub- 
marine. The  writer  recalls  witnessing  experi- 
ments more  than  twenty  years  ago  on  the 
Holland  submarine — the  first  modern  subma- 
rine type — and  he  recalls  how  closely  it  was 
guarded  in  the  early  days  of  1898,  when  it  lay 
at  Elizabethport  and  the  Spanish  war-ship 
Viscaya,  Captain  Eulate,  lay  in  our  harbor. 
This  was  a  month  or  so  after  the  destruction  of 
the  battleship  Maine  in  Havana  Harbor,  and 
threats  against  the  Spanish  had  led,  among 
other  precautions,  to  an  armed  guard  about 
the  Holland  lest  some  excitable  person  take  her 
out  and  do  damage  to  the  Viscaya.  There  was 
no  real  danger,  of  course,  that  this  would  hap- 
pen ;  it  merely  tends  to  show  the  state  of  public 
mind. 

Well,  in  any  event,  the  Holland,  and  improved 
undersea  craft  subsequently  developed,  con- 
verted the  seemingly  impossible  into  the  actual. 
To  an  Englishman,  William  Bourne,  a  seaman- 
gunner  must  be  credited  the  first  concrete 
exposition  of  the  possibilities  of  an  undersea 
fighter.  His  book,  "Inventions  or  Devices," 


ORIGINAL  SUBMARINE  111 

published  in  1578,  contains  a  comprehensive 
description  of  the  essential  characteristics  of 
the  undersea  boat  as  they  are  applied  to-day. 
From  the  days  of  the  sixteenth  century  on 
down  through  the  years  to  the  present  time, 
submarine  construction  and  navigation  have 
passed  through  various  stages  of  development. 
Captain  Thomas  A.  Kearney,  U.  S.  N.,  in  an 
interesting  monograph  published  through  the 
United  States  Naval  Institute  at  Annapolis, 
says  that  of  the  early  American  inventors, 
particular  mention  should  be  made  of  the  work 
of  David  Bushnell  and  Robert  Fulton,  both  of 
whom  have  been  termed  the  "father  of  the 
submarine."  Bushnell's  boat,  completed  in 
1775-6,  was  much  in  advance  of  anything  in  its 
class  at  the  time.  The  boat,  which  was,  of 
course,  water-tight,  was  sufficiently  commodious 
to  contain  the  operator  and  a  sufficient  amount 
of  air  to  support  him  for  thirty  minutes.  Water 
was  admitted  into  a  tank  for  the  purpose  of 
descending  and  two  brass  force-pumps  ejected 
the  water  when  the  operator  wished  to  rise. 
Propulsion  was  by  an  oar  astern,  working  as 
the  propeller  of  a  vessel  works  to-day.  Prac- 


112  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

tically  Bushnell  in  one  attempt  to  destroy  a 
British  war-ship  in  the  Hudson  River  was  able 
to  get  under  the  British  frigate  Eagle  without 
detection,  but  was  unable  to  attach  the  mine 
which  the  boat  carried. 

Fulton's  inventive  genius  directed  toward  a 
submarine  took  tangible  shape  in  1800  when 
the  French  Government  built  the  Nautilus 
in  accordance  with  his  plans.  Both  France 
and  the  United  States  carried  on  experimental 
work  with  Fulton's  designs,  under  his  personal 
supervision,  but  there  is  no  record  of  any  marked 
achievement. 

The  first  submarine  within  the  memory  of 
men  living  to-day,  the  first  practical,  albeit 
crude,  undersea  boat,  was  the  H.  L.  Hurdey, 
built  at  Mobile,  Ala.,  under  the  auspices  of 
the  Confederate  Navy  and  brought  from  that 
port  to  Charleston  on  flat  cars  for  the  purpose 
of  trying  to  break  the  blockade  of  that  port  by 
Federal  war-ships.  The  Hurdey  was  about  forty 
feet  long,  six  in  diameter,  and  shaped  like  a 
cigar.  Its  motive  power  came  from  seven 
men  turning  cranks  attached  to  the  propeller- 
shaft.  When  working  their  hardest  these  men 


THE  HUNLEY  113 

could  drive  the  boat  at  a  speed  of  about  four 
miles  an  hour. 

Several  attempts  to  use  the  Hunley  were  un- 
successful, each  time  it  sank,  drowning  its 
crew  of  from  eight  to  ten  men.  These  experi- 
ments, which  were  carried  on  in  shallow  water 
at  Charleston,  mark  one  of  the  bright  pages  in 
our  seafaring  annals,  as  crew  after  crew  went 
into  the  boat  facing  practically  certain  death  to 
the  end  that  the  craft  might  be  made  effective. 
Each  time  the  vessel  sank  she  was  raised,  the 
dead  crew  taken  out,  and  a  new  experiment 
with  a  new  crew  made.  In  all  thirty- three 
men  were  sacrificed  before  it  was  finally  decided 
that  the  boat  could  make  her  way  out  to  the 
blockading  line.  It  was  on  the  night  of  Febru- 
ary 17,  1864,  that  the  Hunley  set  out  on  her  last 
journey.  The  vessel  submerged,  reached  the 
side  of  the  United  States  steamship  Housatonic, 
and  successfully  exploded  a  mine  against  the 
hull  of  the  Federal  war-ship,  sending  her  to 
the  bottom. 

But  in  the  explosion  the  submersible  herself 
was  sunk  and  all  on  board  were  lost.  The 
commander  of  the  expedition  was  Lieutenant 


114  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

George  E.  Dixon,  of  Alabama,  who  with  his 
crew  well  appreciated  their  danger.  It  is  sup- 
posed that  the  Hunley  was  drawn  down  in  the 
suction  of  the  sinking  war-ship;  she  could  not 
arise  from  the  vortex,  and  that  was  the  last 
of  her  and  of  her  brave  crew.  The  North  was 
tremendously  excited  over  the  incident  and  the 
South  elated,  but  no  other  ship  was  attacked 
from  beneath  the  water  in  the  course  of  the 
war. 

Holland's  boat,  built  in  1877,  was  the  first 
to  use  a  gas-engine  as  a  propulsive  medium, 
but  it  was  not  until  the  final  adoption  of  the 
gas-engine  for  surface  work,  followed  later  by 
the  internal-combustion  gasolene-engine  and 
the  use  of  electric  storage-battery  for  subsur- 
face work,  as  well  as  the  invention  of  the  peri- 
scope and  various  other  devices,  that  the  sub- 
marine was  developed  to  a  present  state  of 
effectiveness,  which  sees  it  crossing  the  Atlantic 
from  Germany,  operating  off  our  shores  and 
returning  to  Germany  without  being  obliged  to 
put  into  port;  which,  also,  sees  it  capable  of 
navigating  under  water  at  a  speed  of  from  seven 
to  nine  knots,  with  torpedoes  ready  for  use  in 


BATTLESHIP  STILL  SUPREME  115 

the  tubes  and  guns  of  effective  caliber  mounted 
on  deck.  It  has,  indeed,  been  asserted  that 
the  airplane  and  the  submarine  have  relegated 
the  battleship  to  the  limbo  of  desuetude;  but 
as  to  that  the  continued  control  of  the  seas  by 
Great  Britain  with  her  immense  battle-fleet, 
supplemented  by  our  tremendous  engines  of 
war,  certainly  argues  for  no  such  theory.  What 
the  future  may  bring  forth  in  the  way  of  sub- 
marines, armored  and  of  great  size,  no  man 
may  say.  But  at  present  the  submarine,  while 
tremendously  effective,  has  not  done  away  with 
the  battleship  as  a  mighty  element  in  the  theory 
of  sea  power. 

As  to  life  on  a  submersible,  let  us  construct 
from  material  which  has  come  to  us  from  vari- 
ous sources  in  the  past  three  years  a  little  story 
which  will  give  a  better  knowledge  of  the  work- 
ings of  the  German  undersea  boat  than  many 
pages  of  technical  description  would  do.  An 
undertaking  of  the  sort  will  be  the  more  valu- 
able because  we  of  the  Allies  are  inclined  to 
consider  the  submarine  problem  only  in  relation 
to  our  side  of  the  case,  whereas  the  fact  is  that 
the  submarine  operates  under  great  difficulties 


116  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

| 
and  dangers,  and  in  an  ever-increasing  degree 

leaves  port  never  to  be  heard  from  again.  We 
may,  then,  begin  the  following  chapter  with  a 
scene  in  Kiel,  Zeebrugge,  or  any  German  sub- 
marine base. 


CHAPTER  VI 

ON   A    GERMAN    SUBMARINE — FIGHT    WITH   A    DESTROYER 

PERISCOPE    HIT — RECORD    OF    THE    SUBMARINE    IN    THIS 

WAR — DAWNING     FAILURE    OF    THE     UNDERSEA     BOAT 

FIGURES    ISSUED    BY    THE    BRITISH    ADMIRALTY — PROOF 
OF  DECLINE — OUR  NAVY'S  PART  IN  THIS  ACHIEVEMENT 

A  FIRST  lieutenant  with  acting  rank  of 
commander  takes  the  order  in  the  gray 
dawn  oi  a  February  day.  The  hulk  of  an  old 
corvette  with  the  Iron  Cross  of  1870  on  her 
stubby  foremast  is  his  quarters  in  port,  and 
on  the  corvette's  deck  he  is  presently  saluted 
by  his  first  engineer  and  the  officer  of  the  watch. 
On  the  pier  the  crew  of  the  U-47^  await  him. 
At  their  feet  the  narrow  gray  submarine  lies 
alongside,  straining  a  little  at  her  cables. 

"Well,  we've  got  our  orders  at  last,"  begins 
the  commander,  addressing  his  crew  of  thirty, 
and  the  crew  look  solemn.  For  this  is  the 
IT-47^'s  first  experience  of  active  service.  She 
has  done  nothing  save  trial  trips  hitherto  and 
has  just  been  overhauled  for  her  first  fighting 
cruise.  Her  commander  snaps  out  a  number  of 

117 


118  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

orders.  Provisions  are  to  be  taken  "up  to  the 
neck."  Fresh  water  is  to  be  put  aboard,  and 
engine-room  supplies  to  be  supplemented. 

A  mere  plank  is  the  gangway  to  the  little 
vessel.  As  the  commander,  followed  by  his 
officers,  comes  aboard,  a  sailor  hands  to  each 
of  the  officers  a  ball  of  cotton  waste,  the  one 
article  aboard  a  submarine  which  never  leaves 
an  officer's  hands.  For  of  all  oily,  grimy, 
greasy  places  the  inside  of  the  submarine  is 
supreme.  The  steel  walls,  the  doors,  the  com- 
panion-ladders all  sweat  oil,  and  the  hands  must 
be  wiped  dry  at  every  touch.  Through  a  nar- 
row hole  aft  the  commander  descends  by  a 
straight  iron  ladder  into  a  misty  region  whose 
only  light  comes  from  electric  glow-lamps. 
The  air  reeks  with  the  smell  of  oil.  Here  is  the 
engine-room  and,  stifling  as  the  atmosphere  is 
with  the  hatches  up,  it  is  as  nothing  compared 
to  what  the  men  have  to  breathe  when  every- 
thing is  hermetically  sealed. 

Here  are  slung  hammocks,  where  men  of  one 
engine-watch  sleep  while  their  comrades  move 
about  the  humming,  purring  apartment,  bump- 
ing the  sleepers  with  their  heads  and  elbows. 


IN  A  SUBMARINE  119 

But  little  things  like  that  do  not  make  for 
wakefulness  on  a  submarine.  The  apartment 
or  vault  is  about  ten  feet  long;  standing  in  the 
middle,  a  man  by  stretching  out  his  arms  may 
easily  have  his  fingers  in  contact  with  the  steel 
walls  on  either  side.  Overhead  is  a  network 
of  wires,  while  all  about  there  is  a  maze  of 
levers,  throttles,  wheels,  and  various  mechani- 
cal appliances  that  are  the  dismay  of  all  but 
the  mind  specially  trained  in  submarine  opera- 
tion. 

The  commander  very  minutely  inspects  every- 
thing; a  flaw  will  mean  a  long  sleep  on  the 
bottom,  thirty  men  dead.  Everything  is  tested. 
Then,  satisfied,  the  commander  creeps  through 
a  hole  into  the  central  control-station,  where 
the  chief  engineer  is  at  his  post.  The  engineer 
is  an  extraordinary  individual;  the  life  of  the 
boat  and  its  effectiveness  are  in  his  care.  There 
must  be  lightning  repairs  when  anything  goes 
wrong  on  an  undersea  craft,  and  in  all  respects 
the  chief's  touch  must  be  that  of  a  magician. 

Exchanging  a  word  or  two  with  the  chief 
engineer,  the  commander  continues  his  way  to 
the  torpedo-chamber  where  the  deadly  "silver- 


120  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

fish,"  as  the  Germans  have  named  the  hideous 
projectiles,  lie.  Perhaps  he  may  stroke  their 
gleaming  backs  lovingly;  one  may  not  account 
for  the  loves  of  a  submarine  commander.  The 
second-in-command,  in  charge  of  the  armament, 
joins  him  in  the  torpedo-room  and  receives 
final  instructions  regarding  the  torpedo  and  the 
stowing  of  other  explosives.  Forward  is  another 
narrow  steel  chamber,  and  next  to  it  is  a  place 
like  a  cupboard  where  the  cook  has  just  room 
to  stand  in  front  of  his  dolPs-house  galley-stove. 
It  is  an  electric  cooker,  of  course.  Housewives 
who  operate  kitchenettes  in  Manhattan  wTill 
appreciate  the  amount  of  room  which  the  cook 
has.  And,  by  the  way,  this  being  a  German 
submarine,  the  oily  odors,  the  smell  of  grease, 
and  the  like  are  complicated  by  an  all -pervad- 
ing smell  of  cabbage  and  coffee.  Two  little 
cabins,  the  size  of  a  clothes-chest,  accommo- 
date the  deck  and  engine-rooms  officers — two  in 
each.  Then  there  is  a  little  box-cabin  for  the 
commander. 

As  the  sun  rises  higher  the  commander  goes 
into  his  cabin  and  soon  after  emerges  on  deck. 
His  coat  and  trousers  are  of  black  leather  lined 


OUT  FOR  PREY  121 

with  wool,  a  protection  against  oil,  cold,  and 
wet  weather.  The  crew  are  at  their  stations. 

"Machines  clear,"  comes  a  voice  from  the 
control-station. 

"Clear  ship,"  comes  the  order  from  the 
bridge,  followed  by  "Cast  off." 

The  cables  hiss  through  the  water  and  slap 
on  the  landing-stage;  the  sound  of  purring 
fills  the  submarine  which  glides  slowly  into 
open  water.  Into  the  bay  comes  another 
U-boat.  Stories  of  her  feat  in  sinking  a  steam- 
ship loaded  with  mutton  for  England  has 
preceded  her.  There  has  been  loss  of  life  con- 
nected with  that  sinking,  but  this  makes  no 
difference  to  the  Teutonic  mind,  and  the  officer 
of  the  U-47^  shouts  his  congratulations. 

Now  the  submarine  is  out  in  the  open  sea, 
the  waves  are  heavy  and  the  vessel  rolls  un- 
comfortably. The  craft,  it  may  be  remarked, 
is  not  the  craft  for  a  pleasant  sea-voyage.  The 
two  officers  hanging  onto  the  rails  turn  their 
eyes  seaward.  The  weather  increases  in  sever- 
ity. The  officers  are  lashed  to  the  bridge. 
There  they  must  stay;  while  the  boat  plies  the 
surface  the  bridge  must  not  be  left  by  the  com- 


122  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

mander  and  his  assistant.  Sometimes  they  re- 
main thus  on  duty  two  and  three  days.  Food 
is  carried  to  them  and  they  eat  it  as  they  stand. 

It  may  be  that  the  commander  is  trying  to 
balance  a  plate  of  heavy  German  soup  in  his 
hand  as  a  cry  comes  from  a  lookout. 

"Smoke  on  the  horizon,  off  the  port  bow,  sir." 

The  commander  withdraws  from  his  food, 
shouts  an  order  and  an  electric  alarm  sounds 
inside  the  hull.  The  ship  buzzes  with  activity. 
The  guns  on  r!eck  are  hastily  housed.  Bridge 
appurtenances  are  housed  also,  and  sailors  dive 
down  through  the  deck-holes.  The  commander 
follows.  Water  begins  to  gurgle  into  the  bal- 
last-tanks while  the  crew  seal  every  opening. 
Down  goes  the  U-47^  until  only  her  periscope 
shows,  a  periscope  painted  sea-green  and  white 
— camouflaged.  The  eyes  of  the  watch-officer 
are  glued  to  the  periscope. 

"She  is  a  Dutchman,  sir,"  he  says  at  length. 
The  commander  steps  to  the  periscope  and 
takes  a  look.  The  Dutchman  has  no  wireless 
and  is  bound  for  some  continental  port.  It  is 
not  wise  to  sink  every  Dutch  boat  one  meets — 
although  German  submarines  have  sunk  a 


IN  THE  NORTH  SEA  123 

sufficient  number  of  them,  in  all  conscience. 
At  all  events,  the  steamship  goes  in  peace  and 
the  submarine  comes  to  the  surface.  The 
commander  is  glad,  because  electric  power 
must  be  used  when  the  vessel  is  moving  under 
water  and  there  must  be  no  waste  of  this  essen- 
tial element. 

So  the  submarine  proceeds  on  her  way, 
wallowing  and  tumbling  through  the  heavy 
gray  backs  of  the  North  Sea.  At  length  after 
fifty-four  hours  the  necessity  of  sleep  becomes 
apparent.  The  ballast-tanks  are  filled  and  the 
craft  slowly  descends  to  the  sandy  bottom  of 
the  sea.  It  is  desirable  that  the  crew  go  to 
sleep  as  quickly  as  possible,  because  when  men 
are  asleep  they  use  less  of  the  priceless  supply 
of  oxygen  which  is  consumed  when  the  boat 
is  under  water.  However,  the  commander  al- 
lows the  men  from  half  an  hour  to  an  hour  for 
music  and  singing.  The  phonograph  is  turned 
on  and  there  on  the  bottom  of  the  North  Sea  the 
latest  songs  of  Berlin  are  ground  out  while  the 
crew  sit  about,  perhaps  joining  in  the  choruses — 
they  sang  more  in  the  early  days  of  the  war 
than  they  do  to-day — while  the  officers  sit 


124  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

around  their  mess-table  and  indulge  in  a  few 
social  words  before  they  retire. 

In  the  morning  water  from  the  tanks  is  ex- 
pelled and  the  boat  rises  to  greet  a  smiling 
sea.  Also  to  greet  a  grim  destroyer.  The 
war-ship  sees  her  as  she  comes  up  from  a  dis- 
tance of  perhaps  a  mile  awry.  All  steam  is 
crowded  on  while  the  leaden-gray  fighter — the 
one  craft  that  the  submarine  fears — makes 
for  her  prey.  Sharp  orders  ring  through  the 
U-boat.  The  tanks  are  again  filled,  and  while 
the  commander  storms  and  ejaculates,  every- 
thing is  made  tight  and  the  vessel  sinks  beneath 
the  surface.  The  electric-motors  are  started 
and  the  submarine  proceeds  under  water  in  a 
direction  previously  determined,  reckoned  in 
relation  to  the  course  of  the  approaching 
destroyer. 

Presently  comes  a  dull  explosion.  The  de- 
stroyer arriving  over  the  spot  where  the  under- 
sea boat  was  last  seen,  has  dropped  a  depth- 
bomb,  which  has  exploded  under  the  surface 
at  a  predetermined  depth.  The  submarine 
commander  grins.  The  bomb  was  too  far 
away  to  do  damage,  although  the  craft  has 


A  CATTLE-SHIP  125 

trembled  under  the  shock.  There  comes  an- 
other shock,  this  time  not  so  palpable.  Eventu- 
ally all  is  quiet. 

For  an  hour  the  submarine  proceeds  blindly 
under  water,  and  then  cautiously  her  periscope 
is  thrust  above  the  surface.  Nothing  in  sight. 
Orders  sound  through  the  vessel  and  she  rises 
to  the  surface.  She  could  have  remained  be- 
low, running  under  full  headway,  for  six  hours 
before  coming  to  the  surface.  So  the  day  goes 
on.  Toward  nightfall  smoke  again  is  seen  on 
the  horizon.  It  proves  to  be  a  large  freighter 
ladened,  apparently,  with  cattle.  Two  de- 
stroyers are  frisking  about  her,  crossing  her 
bow,  cutting  around  her  stern.  The  steam- 
ship herself  is  zigzagging,  rendering  accurate 
calculations  as  to  her  course  uncertain. 

By  this  time,  of  course,  the  submarine  has 
submerged.  The  watch-officer  and  the  com- 
mander stand  by  the  periscope,  watching  the 
approaching  craft.  The  periscope  may  not  be 
left  up  too  long;  the  watchers  on  the  destroyers 
and  on  the  deck  of  the  vessel,  which  is  armed, 
are  likely  to  spy  it  at  any  time.  So  the  periscope 
is  alternately  run  down  and  run  up.  The  sub- 


126  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

marine  has  moved  so  that  the  steamship  will 
pass  her  so  as  to  present  a  broadside.  Up 
comes  the  periscope  for  one  last  look.  The 
observer  sees  a  puff  of  smoke  from  the  deck  of 
a  destroyer  and  a  quick  splash  of  water  obscures 
the  view  momentarily. 

"They  have  seen  us  and  are  firing." 

But  the  steamship  is  now  within  a  mile, 
within  fairly  accurate  torpedo  range.  An  order 
rolls  into  the  torpedo-room  and  the  crew  pre- 
pare for  firing.  In  the  meantime  a  shower  of 
shells  explode  about  the  periscope.  There  comes 
a  sudden  vagueness  on  the  glass  into  which  the 
observer  has  been  gazing. 

"The  periscope  has  been  hit." 

Thoughts  of  launching  the  torpedo  vanish. 
Safety  first  is  now  the  dominant  emotion. 
Additional  water  flows  into  the  tanks  and  the 
craft  begins  to  settle.  But  as  she  does  so  there 
is  a  sudden  flood  of  water  into  the  control- 
room;  a  hoarse  cry  goes  up  from  the  crew. 
The  officers  draw  their  revolvers.  Evidently 
the  injured  periscope  has  caused  a  leak.  Be- 
fore anything  can  be  done  there  is  a  tremendous 
grinding,  rending  explosion;  the  thin  steel  walls 


BOMB  DOES  ITS  WORK  127 

contract  under  the  force  of  the  released  energy. 
Above  them  the  destroyer  crew  gazing  eagerly 
at  the  geyser-like  volume  of  water  arising  from 
the  sea  descry  pieces  of  metal,  dark  objects  of 
all  sorts.  The  sea  quiets  and  up  from  the  depths 
arise  clouds  of  oil,  spreading  slowly  over  the 
waves.  The  U-47^  has  joined  many  a  nobler 
craft  upon  the  wastes  of  subaqueous  depths. 

But  not  always  has  the  outcome  of  a  sub- 
marine attack  been  so  fortunate  for  us.  There 
have  been  thousands  of  instances — many  more 
of  them  in  the  past  than  at  present,  fortunately 
— where  the  U-boat  returned  to  her  base  with  a 
murderous  story  to  tell.  While  it  is  certain 
that  when  the  totals  for  the  present  year  are 
compiled  an  engaging  tale  of  reduced  submarine 
effectiveness  will  be  told;  yet — as  the  British 
Government  has  announced — any  effort  to  mini- 
mize what  the  submarine  has  done  would  work 
chiefly  toward  the  slowing  up  of  our  ship-build- 
ing and  other  activities  designed  to  combat 
directly  and  indirectly  the  lethal  activities  of 
the  submarine.  And  from  a  naval  standpoint 
it  is  also  essential  that  the  effectiveness  of  the 
undersea  craft  be  fully  understood. 


128  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

It  was  on  January  31, 1917,  that  the  German 
Government  suddenly  cast  aside  its  peace  over- 
tures and  astonished  the  world  by  presenting 
to  the  United  States  Government  a  note  to  the 
effect  that  from  February  1  sea  traffic  would  be 
stopped  with  every  available  weapon  and  with- 
out further  notice  in  certain  specified  zones. 
The  decree  applied  to  both  enemy  and  neutral 
vessels,  although  the  United  States  was  to  be 
permitted  to  sail  one  steamship  a  week  in  each 
direction,  using  Falmouth  as  the  port  of  arrival 
and  departure.  On  February  3  President  Wil- 
son appeared  before  Congress  and  announced 
that  he  had  severed  diplomatic  relations  with 
Germany  on  the  ground  that  the  imperial  gov- 
ernment had  deliberately  withdrawn  its  solemn 
assurances  in  regard  to  its  method  of  conducting 
warfare  against  merchant  vessels.  Two  months 
later,  April  6,  as  already  noted,  Congress  de- 
clared that  a  state  of  war  with  Germany  existed. 

The  German  people  were  led  to  believe  that 
an  aggregate  of  1,000,000  tons  of  shipping 
would  be  destroyed  each  month  and  that  the 
wastage  would  bring  England  to  her  knees  in 
six  months  and  lead  to  peace.  The  six  months 


TOLL  OF  SUBMARINES  129 

went  by,  but  the  promises  of  the  German 
Government  were  not  fulfilled.  Instead  the 
submarine  war  brought  the  United  States  into 
the  struggle  and  this,  in  the  words  of  Philipp 
Scheidemann,  leader  of  the  German  majority  So- 
cialists, has  been  "the  most  noticeable  result." 
None  the  less,  the  submarine,  used  ruthlessly, 
without  restrictions,  proved  itself  to  be  an  unri- 
valled weapon  of  destruction,  difficult  to  combat 
by  reason  of  its  ability  to  stalk  and  surprise  its 
quarry,  while  remaining  to  all  intents  and  pur- 
poses invisible.  It  has  taken  heavy  toll  of 
ships  and  men,  and  has  caused  privation  among 
the  peoples  of  the  Entente  nations;  it  is  still 
unconquered,  but  month  by  month  of  the 
present  year  its  destructiveness  has  been  im- 
paired until  now  there  may  be  little  doubt 
that  the  number  of  submarines  destroyed  every 
month  exceeds  the  number  of  new  submarines 
built,  while  the  production  of  ship  tonnage  in 
England  and  the  United  States  greatly  out- 
weighs the  losses.  In  other  words,  the  sub- 
marine, as  an  element  in  the  settling  of  the  war 
in  a  manner  favorable  to  Germany,  has  steadily 
lost  influence,  and,  while  it  is  not  now  a  negligi- 


130  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

ble  factor,  it  is,  at  least,  a  minor  one  and  grow- 
ing more  so. 

Secret  figures  of  the  British  Admiralty  on  sub- 
marine losses  and  world  ship-building  issued  in 
March,  1918,  show  that  from  the  outbreak  of  war, 
in  August,  1914,  to  the  end  of  1917,  the  loss 
was  11,827,080  tons.  Adding  the  losses  up  to 
April  of  the  present  year — when  the  submarine 
sinkings  began  to  show  a  markedly  decreased 
ratio — and  we  get  a  total  of  13,252,692  tons. 
The  world's  tonnage  construction  in  the  four 
years  1914-17  was  6,809,080  tons.  The  new 
construction  in  England  and  the  United  States 
for  the  first  quarter  of  1918  was  687,221  tons, 
giving  a  total  from  the  beginning  of  the  war  to 
April  1  of  1918,  7,750,000  tons  built  outside  of 
the  Central  Powers  since  the  beginning  of  the 
war,  with  a  final  deficit  of  about  5,500,000  tons. 
Of  this  deficit  the  year  1917  alone  accounted 
for  3,716,000  tons. 

From  the  last  quarter  of  1917,  however,  the 
margin  between  construction  and  loss  has  been 
narrowing  steadily.  In  the  first  quarter  of 
1918  the  construction  in  Great  Britain  and 
America  alone  was  over  687,000  tons  and  the 


BEATING  THE  U-BOAT  131 

losses  for  the  whole  world  were  1,123,510  tons. 
Here  is  a  deficit  for  three  months — the  first 
three  months  of  the  present  year — of  436,000 
tons,  or  an  annual  average  of  1,750,000  tons, 
which  is  a  deficit  one-half  less  than  that  of  the 
black  year  of  1917.  When  figures  at, the  end 
of  the  present  year  are  revealed  we  may  find 
that  we  have  reckoned  too  little  upon  the  ship- 
building activity  of  both  England  and  the 
United  States,  in  which  event  the  deficit  may 
prove  to  be  even  less.  But  in  any  event  the 
dry  figures  as  set  forth  are  worth  perusal  mas- 
much  as  they  point  not  only  to  the  deadly 
effectiveness  of  the  submarine  in  the  first  year 
of  unrestricted  activity,  but  show  how  valiantly 
the  Allied  sea  power  has  dealt  with  a  seemingly 
hopeless  situation  in  the  present  year. 

In  the  House  of  Commons  not  long  ago  a 
definite  statement  that  the  trend  of  the  sub- 
marine war  was  favorable  to  the  Allies  was 
made.  The  one  specific  item  given  was  that 
from  January  1  to  April  30,  1917,  the  number 
of  unsuccessful  attacks  upon  British  steam- 
ships was  172,  a  weekly  average  of  10.  Last 
year  in  the  ten  weeks  from  the  end  of  February 


132  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

to  the  end  of  April  there  were  175  unsuccessful 
attacks,  or  a  weekly  average  of  18.  This  state- 
ment was  not  exactly  illuminating.  For  of  it- 
self  a  decline  in  the  weekly  number  of  unsuc- 
cessful attacks  would  imply  an  increase  in  the 
effectiveness  of  the  U-boat — which  we  know  is 
not  so.  What  the  House  of  Commons  statement 
really  meant,  of  course,  was  that  the  number  of 
successful  attacks  had  been  declining  as  well  as 
the  number  of  unsuccessful  attacks — or,  in  other 
words,  that  the  German  sea  effort  as  a'  whole 
was  declining.  The  U-boats  are  not  hitting 
out  as  freely  as  they  did  a  year  ago.  This 
argues  that  there  are  fewer  of  them  than  there 
were  in  1917.  For  actual  tonnage  losses  we 
have  the  word  of  the  French  Minister  of  Marine 
that  the  sinkings  for  April,  1918,  were  268,000 
tons,  whereas  in  April  of  the  previous  year  they 
were  800,000  tons,  an  appalling  total. 

"The  most  conclusive  evidence  we  have  seen 
of  the  failure  of  the  enemy's  submarine  cam- 
paign is  the  huge  American  army  now  in  France, 
and  the  hundreds  of  thousands  of  tons  of  stores 
brought  across  the  Atlantic,"  said  James  Wil- 
son, chairman  of  the  American  labor  delegation, 
upon  his  return  to  England  last  May  from  a 


PROGRESS  OF  U-BOAT  FIGHT          133 

visit  to  France  and  to  the  American  army. 
"Less  than  twelve  months  have  passed  since 
General  Pershing  arrived  in  France  with  50 
men.  The  developments  that  have  taken  place 
since  seem  little  short  of  miraculous. 

Georges  Leygues,  Minister  of  Marine  of 
France,  in  testifying  before  the  Chamber  of 
Deputies  in  May  said  that  in  November  of  1917 
losses  through  the  submarine  fell  below  400,000 
tons,  and  since  has  diminished  continuously. 
He  said  that  the  number  of  submarines  de- 
stroyed had  increased  progressively  since  Jan- 
uary of  the  present  year  in  such  proportion  that 
the  effectiveness  of  enemy  squadrons  cannot  be 
maintained  at  the  minimum  required  by  the 
German  Government.  The  number  of  U-boats 
destroyed  in  January,  February,  and  March 
was  far  greater  in  each  month  than  the  num- 
ber constructed  in  those  months.  In  February 
and  April  the  number  of  submarines  destroyed 
was  three  less  than  the  total  destroyed  in  the 
previous  three  months.  These  results,  the  min- 
ister declared,  were  due  to  the  methodical  char- 
acter of  the  war  against  submarines,  to  the 
close  co-ordination  of  the  Allied  navies;  to  the 
intrepidity  and  spirit  animating  the  officers  and 


134  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

crews  of  the  naval  and  aerial  squadrons,  to  the 
intensification  of  the  use  of  old  methods  and  to 
the  employment  of  new  ones. 

We  may  lay  to  ourselves  the  unction  that 
the  reduced  effectiveness  of  the  submarine 
coincided  with  the  entrance  of  our  naval  forces 
into  the  war.  This  is  taking  nothing  from 
the  French,  British,  and  Italian  navies;  as  a 
matter  of  truth,  it  would  be  gross  injustice 
to  ignore  the  fact  that  the  large  share  of  the 
great  task  has  been  handled  through  the  im- 
mense resources  of  the  British.  But  the  co- 
ordinated effort  which  began  with  the  arrival 
of  our  vessels  on  the  other  side,  the  utter  free- 
dom with  which  Secretary  Daniels  placed  our 
resources  at  the  service  of  the  British  was  in- 
spiring in  its  moral  influences  throughout  the 
Entente  nations,  while  practically  there  may  be 
no  doubt  that  our  craft  have  played  their  fair 
share  in  the  activities  that  have  seen  the  steady 
decline  of  deadliness  on  the  part  of  the  U-boat. 
We  may  now  consider  the  methods  which  our 
navy  in  collaboration  with  Allied  sea  power  have 
employed  in  this  combat  for  the  freedom  of  the 
seas. 


CHAPTER  VII 

HOW     THE     SUBMARINE     IS     BEING     FOUGHT DESTROYERS 

THE    GREAT    MENACE — BUT    NETS,    TOO,    HAVE    PLAYED 

THEIR  PART MANY  OTHER  DEVICES — GERMAN  OFFICERS 

TELL   OF    EXPERIENCE   ON    A    SUBMARINE    CAUGHT   IN   A 

NET CHASERS   PLAY    THEIR   PART — THE    DEPTH-BOMB 

TRAWLER  TRICKS — A  CAMOUFLAGED  SCHOONER  WHICH 
TURNED  OUT  TO  BE  A  TARTAR — AIRPLANES — GERMAN 
SUBMARINE  MEN  IN  PLAYFUL  MOOD 

TT7HEN  the  submarines  first  began  their 
*  *  attacks  upon  British  war-ships  and  mer- 
chant vessels  the  admiralty  was  faced  by  a 
state  of  affairs  which  had  been  dealt  with  more 
or  less  in  the  abstract,  the  only  practical  lessons 
at  hand  being  those  of  the  Russo-Japanese 
War,  which  conflict,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  left 
rather  an  unbalanced  showing  so  far  as  the 
undersea  boat  and  the  surface  craft  were  con- 
cerned; in  other  words,  the  submersible  had 
by  all  odds  the  advantage. 

But  England  tackled  the  problem  with  bull- 
dog energy,  utilizing  to  that  end  not  only  her 
immense  destroyer  fleet,  but  a  myriad  of  high- 
speed wooden  boats,  many  of  which  were  built 
in  this  country.  They  were  called  submarine- 

135 


136  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

chasers,  and  while  the  destroyer  and  the  sea- 
plane, as  one  of  the  most  effective  weapons 
against  the  submarine,  came  to  the  fore,  the 
chaser  is  employed  in  large  numbers  by  England, 
France,  and  the  United  States. 

The  great  usefulness  of  the  destroyer  lay  not 
only  in  patrolling  the  seas  in  search  of  the 
U-boats,  but  of  serving  in  convoys,  protecting 
passenger  and  freight  vessels,  and  in  rescuing 
crews  of  vessels  that  had  been  sunk.  There  may 
be  other  methods  of  reducing  Germany's  sum 
total  of  submarines  which  are  equally — if  not 
more — effective  than  the  destroyer;  but,  if  so, 
we  have  not  been  made  aware  of  that  fact. 
Certain  it  is,  however,  that  aside  from  the  de- 
stroyer, steel  nets,  fake  fishing  and  merchant 
sailing  vessels,  seaplanes  and  chasers  have 
played  their  important  part  in  the  fight,  while 
such  a  minor  expedient  as  blinding  the  eye  of 
the  periscope  by  oil  spread  on  the  waters  has 
not  been  without  avail. 

The  United  States  Navy  appears  to  have 
figured  chiefly  through  its  destroyer  fleet.  It 
has  been  stated  that  half  the  number  of  sailors 
who  were  in  the  navy  when  we  entered  the  war 


TRAINING  SEAMEN  137 

were  sent  to  European  waters.  The  system  of 
training  them  involves  a  number  of  training- 
bases  in  Europe  constantly  filling  up  from  Ameri- 
can drafts.  Each  new  destroyer  that  steams 
to  Europe  from  our  shores  in  due  course  sends 
back  some  of  her  men  to  form  a  nucleus  for  the 
crew  of  another  new  destroyer  turning  up  in 
American  waters.  Their  places  are  taken  by 
drafts  from  the  training-bases  in  Europe.  The 
destroyer  referred  to  as  turning  up  in  this  coun- 
try makes  up  her  complement  from  the  battle- 
ships and  other  naval  units  here.  The  training- 
bases  in  this  country  are  established  at  Newport, 
Chicago,  San  Francisco,  and  Pelham  Bay,  N.  Y. 
Here  the  men  have  many  months'  instruction. 
As  their  training  approaches  completion  they  are 
sent  where  needed,  and  thus  the  work  of  creating 
an  immense  army  of  trained  seamen  qualified 
for  any  sort  of  a  task  proceeds  with  mechanical 
precision. 

Submarine  hunting  is  very  popular  with  our 
young  jackies,  and  great  is  their  satisfaction 
when  some  submarine  falls  victim  to  their  vig- 
ilance, their  courage,  and  their  unerring  eyes. 

"But,"  said  a  young  sea  officer  not  long  ago, 


138  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

"the  submarine  is  a  difficult  bird  to  catch.  He 
holds  the  advantage  over  the  surface  craft. 
He  always  sees  you  first.  Even  when  he  is  on 
the  surface  he  is  nearly  awash,  and  when  sub- 
merged only  his  periscope  appears  above  the 
water.  The  submarine  is  not  after  animals  of 
our  breed — destroyers — and  when  he  can  he 
avoids  them.  We  may  go  several  weeks  with- 
out putting  an  eye  upon  a  single  U-boat.  When 
we  do  there  is  action,  I  can  tell  you.  We  start 
for  him  at  full  speed,  opening  up  with  all  our 
guns  in  the  hope  of  getting  in  a  shot  before  he 
is  able  to  submerge.  But  you  may  believe  he 
doesn't  take  long  to  get  below  the  surface. 
Anyway,  the  sub  doesn't  mind  gun-fire  much. 
They  are  afraid  of  depth  charges — bombs  which 
are  regulated  so  that  they  will  explode  at  any 
depth  we  wish.  They  contain  two  or  three 
hundred  pounds  of  high  explosive,  and  all 
patrol  vessels  and  destroyers  carry  them  on 
deck  and  astern.  When  we  see  a  submarine 
submerge  we  try  to  find  his  wake.  Finding  it, 
we  run  over  it  and  drop  a  bomb.  The  explosion 
can  be  felt  under  water  for  a  distance  of  several 
miles,  but  we  have  to  get  within  ninety  feet  of 


PATROL  DUTY  139 

the  hull  to  damage  it.  This  damage  may  or 
may  not  cause  the  undersea  boat  to  sink.  In- 
side of  ninety  feet,  though,  there  isn't  much 
doubt  about  the  sinking. 

"Patrol  duty  is  a  grind.  The  sea  where  we 
work  is  filled  with  wreckage  for  a  distance  of 
300  miles  off  shore,  and  you  can  take  almost 
any  floating  object  for  a  periscope.  Yes,  we 
shoot  at  everything;  ours  is  not  a  business  in 
which  to  take  chances.  Convoy  work  is  more 
interesting  and  more  exciting  than  the  round  of 
patrol.  The  advantage  of  the  convoy  over  the 
picking  up  and  escorting  of  a  merchantman  by 
a  patrol-boat  is  that  in  the  convoy  from  six  to 
ten  destroyers  can  protect  from  ten  to  thirty 
merchantmen,  while  under  the  patrol  system 
one  destroyer  watches  one  merchant  craft. 
Convoy  trips  take  our  destroyers  away  from 
their  base  from  six  to  eight  days,  and  they  are 
all  trying  days,  especially  so  in  dirty  weather. 
On  convoy  duty  no  officer,  and  no  man,  has  his 
clothes  off  from  start  to  finish.  Too  many 
things  may  happen  to  warrant  any  sort  of  un- 
preparedness.  Constant  readiness  is  the  watch- 
word. 


140  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

"At  night  difficulty  and  danger  increase, 
chiefly  because  of  the  increased  danger  of  col- 
lision. Collisions  sometimes  occur — what  with 
the  absence  of  lights,  the  zigzag  course  of  the 
ships  of  the  convoy,  and  the  speed  with  which 
we  travel.  But  as  a  rule  the  accidents  are  of 
the  scraping  variety,  and  all  thus  is  usually  well. 
The  convoy  is  purely  a  defensive  measure.  The 
patrol  is  the  offensive;  in  this  the  destroyers 
and  other  craft  go  out  and  look  for  the  U-boats, 
the  idea  being  to  hound  them  out  of  the  seas." 

Then  there  are  netting  operations  in  which 
our  sailors  have  played  some  part.  The  netting 
most  often  used  is  made  of  stout  galvanized  wire 
with  a  15-foot  mesh.  This  is  cut  into  lengths 
of  170  feet,  with  a  depth  of  45  feet.  On  top  of 
this  great  net  are  lashed  immense  blocks  of 
wood  for  buoys.  Two  oil-burning  destroyers 
take  the  netting,  and  hanging  it  between  them 
as  deep  down  in  the  water  as  it  will  go,  are 
ready  to  seine  the  'silverfish.'  The  range  of 
a  submarine's  periscope  is  little  over  a  mile  in 
any  sort  of  sea.  Vessels  that  are  belching  clouds 
of  smoke  may  be  picked  up  at  distances  of  from 
three  to  five  miles,  but  no  more.  In  other 


NETTING  OPERATIONS  141 

words,  watchful  eyes  gazing  through  binoculars 
may  see  a  periscope  as  far  as  that  periscope 
sees.  The  destroyers,  bearing  their  net  between 
them,  then  pick  up  a  distant  periscope.  They 
chart  the  submarine's  direction  (this  may  be 
told  by  the  direction  in  which  the  periscope  is 
cutting  the  water)  and  calculate  her  speed. 
Then  they  steam  to  a  point  directly  ahead  of  the 
submarine,  and  the  lashings  are  cut  away  from 
the  net.  While  it  thus  floats  in  the  submarine's 
path  the  destroyers  speed  away  out  of  eye- 
shot. In  a  large  majority  of  cases  it  is  claimed 
the  submarine  runs  into  that  net,  or  one  like  it. 
Results  are  a  probable  disarrangement  of  her 
machinery  and  her  balance  upset.  She  may 
be  thrown  over  on  her  back.  If  she  comes  up 
she  goes  down  again  for  good  and  all  with  a 
hole  shot  in  her  hull;  if  not,  it  is  just  as  well,  a 
shell  has  been  saved. 

Submarines  occasionally  escape  by  changing 
their  course  after  the  nets  have  been  set;  but 
there  appears  to  have  been  no  instance  of  the 
destroyers  themselves  having  been  picked  up 
by  the  periscope.  This  because  they  set  pretty 
nearly  as  low  as  a  submarine,  and  with  their 


142  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

oil-burning  propulsion  give  forth  no  telltale 
cloud  of  smoke.  Other  nets  are  hung  from 
hollow  glass  balls,  which  the  periscope  cannot 
pick  up  against  the  sea  water.  These  nets  are 
set  in  profusion  in  the  English  Channel,  the 
North  Sea,  or  wherever  submarines  lurk,  and 
they  are  tended  just  as  the  North  River  shad 
fishermen  tend  their  nets.  When  a  destroyer, 
making  the  rounds,  sees  that  a  glass  ball  has 
disappeared,  there  is  more  than  presumptive 
evidence  that  something  very  valuable  has  been 
netted. 

Naval  Lieutenant  Weddingen,  of  the  German 
submarine  U-17,  has  related  the  following  ex- 
perience with  the  British  net  system.  The 
TJ-17  had  left  her  base  early  in  the  morning  and 
had  passed  into  the  North  Sea,  the  boat  being 
under  water  with  periscope  awash.  "I  looked 
through  the  periscope,"  said  Weddingen,  "and 
could  see  a  red  buoy  behind  my  boat.  When, 
ten  minutes  later,  I  looked  I  saw  the  buoy  again, 
still  at  the  same  distance  behind  us.  I  steered 
to  the  right  and  then  to  the  left,  but  the  buoy 
kept  on  following  us.  I  descended  deeply  into 
the  water,  but  still  saw  the  buoy  floating  on 


NETTED !  143 

the  surface  above  us.  At  last  I  discovered  that 
we  had  caught  the  chain  of  the  buoy  and  that 
we  were  dragging  it  along  with  us. 

"At  the  same  time,  also,  I  saw  through  the 
periscope  that  a  strange  small  steamer  was 
steering  a  course  directly  behind  us  and  the 
buoy.  At  this  time  my  sounding  apparatus  in- 
dicated that  a  screw  steamer  was  in  the  vicinity. 
Observation  revealed  that  five  enemy  torpedo- 
boats  were  approaching  from  the  north.  I  in- 
creased the  speed  of  the  boat  in  the  expectation 
of  being  able  to  attack  one  of  them.  The  five 
torpedo-boats  arranged  themselves  in  a  circle. 
I  sank  still  deeper  and  got  ready  for  eventuali- 
ties. 

"At  this  juncture  my  boat  began  to  roll  in  a 
most  incomprehensible  manner.  We  began  to 
rise  and  sink  alternately.  The  steering-gear  ap- 
parently was  out  of  order.  Soon  afterward  I 
discovered  that  we  had  encountered  a  wire 
netting  and  were  hopelessly  entangled  in  it. 
We  had,  in  fact,  got  into  the  net  of  one  of  the 
hunters  surrounding  us. 

"For  an  hour  and  a  half  the  netting  carried 
us  with  it,  and  although  I  made  every  effort  to 


144  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

get  clear  of  it,  it  seemed  impossible.  There  was 
nothing  to  do  but  increase  the  weight  in  the 
submarine  as  much  as  possible  so  that  I  might 
try  to  break  the  netting.  Fortunately,  when  we 
had  started  I  had  pumped  in  from  five  to  six 
tons  of  water,  filling  all  the  tanks.  I  increased 
the  weight  of  the  boat  to  the  utmost,  and  sud- 
denly we  felt  a  shock  and  were  clear  of  the  net- 
ting. I  then  descended  as  deeply  in  the  water 
as  I  could,  the  monometer  showing  thirty  metres. 
We  remained  under  water  for  eighteen  hours. 
When  I  wanted  to  ascertain  where  we  were  I 
noticed  that  my  compass  was  out  of  order.  For 
a  time  I  steered  by  the  green  color  of  the  water, 
but  at  last  I  had  to  get  rid  of  the  ballast  in  order 
to  rise.  I  then  discovered  that  the  monometer 
continued  to  register  the  same  depth,  and  was 
also  out  of  order. 

"I  had,  therefore,  to  be  very  careful  not  to 
rise  too  high  and  thus  attract  the  attention  of 
the  torpedo-boats.  Slowly  the  periscope  rose 
above  the  surface,  and  I  could  see  the  enemy 
in  front  of  me,  and  toward  the  left  the  east  coast 
of  England.  I  tried  to  turn  to  starboard,  but 
the  rudder  did  not  work.  In  consequence,  I 


A  HUMAN  DOCUMENT  145 

had  to  sink  again  to  the  bottom  of  the  sea, 
where  I  remained  for  six  hours,  at  the  end  of 
which  time  I  had  succeeded  in  putting  the  com- 
pass in  order,  and  also  in  repairing  the  steering- 
gear.  But  upon  rising  this  time,  we  were  de- 
tected by  a  torpedo-boat,  which  made  straight 
for  us,  forcing  me  to  descend  again."  (This  ap- 
parently was  before  depth-bombs  came  into  use.) 
"I  remained  submerged  for  two  hours,  then 
turned  slowly  outward,  and  at  a  distance  of  some 
fifty  metres  from  the  leading  enemy  craft, 
passed  toward  the  open  sea.  At  9  o'clock  in  the 
evening  we  were  able  to  rise  and  proceed  in 
safety." 

Here  is  a  human  document,  is  it  not?  It  is 
the  experience  of  the  tarpon  at  the  undersea 
end  of  the  line,  or,  in  human  terms,  the  hidden 
drama  of  man  against  man,  drama  of  the  sort 
made  possible  by  the  ingenuity  of  this  modern 
age. 

Submarine-chasers  are  shallow  craft,  capable 
of  a  speed  of  thirty-five  miles  an  hour  or  more, 
mounting  guns  fore  and  aft.  Some  of  our 
chasers  measure  more  than  200  feet  over  all 
(Eagle  class),  while  others  measure  110  feet. 


146  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

The  British,  as  already  said,  like  the  80-footer, 
although  using  all  sizes.  Well,  in  any  event, 
the  chaser  cruises  about  looking  for  surface 
waves.  Now,  the  surface  wave  is  the  path 
marked  by  a  submarine  on  the  surface  of  the 
water.  Even  when  she  is  fifty  feet  below  the 
surface  she  leaves  this  palpable  pathway  up 
above.  And  few  submarines  travel  at  a  depth 
of  sixty  feet.  Then  besides  this  track  there  are 
air-bubbles  and  spots  of  oil,  all  confirming  the 
presence  beneath  the  water  of  the  U-boat. 

So  thereafter  the  chaser  simply  follows  that 
surface  wave  until  the  submarine  comes  to  the 
surface,  as  she  must  do  sooner  or  later  to  get 
her  bearings  and  look  about  for  prey.  When 
she  does  come  up — she  goes  down  for  good. 
The  hunt  of  the  chaser  has  been  aided  in  the 
past  year  or  so  by  the  depth-bomb,  which  did 
not  exist  in  the  first  two  and  a  half  years  of  war. 
Equipped  with  this,  she  need  not  necessarily 
follow  a  surface  wave  all  day;  she  simply  drops 
the  bomb  down  through  this  wave;  at  least  she 
does  under  certain  conditions. 

This  depth-bomb,  by  the  way,  is  a  wonderful 
invention,  and  with  its  perfection  began  the 


From  a  photograph  by  Brown  Brotlters. 

A  submarine-chaser. 


From  a  photograph  by  Brown  Brothers. 

A  torpedo-destroyer. 


THE  DEPTH-BOMB  147 

great  decrease  in  submarine  losses.  The  bomb 
is  cylindrical  and  has  in  the  top  a  well  in  which 
is  fitted  a  small  propeller.  As  the  water  comes 
in  contact  with  the  propeller  the  sinking  motion 
causes  it  to  revolve.  As  it  revolves  it  screws 
down  a  detonator  which  comes  in  contact  with 
the  charge  at  ten,  fifteen,  twenty,  or  forty  or 
more  feet  as  designated  by  the  hand  of  an  indi- 
cator on  the  bomb.  The  hand  of  this  indicator 
is,  of  course,  set  by  the  officer  before  the  bomb 
is  released  either  from  a  gun  or  from  tracks  along 
the  deck. 

Then  there  have  been  a  number  of  tricks; 
some  of  them  Yankee  tricks,  some  of  them  the 
creatures  of  the  equally  fruitful  British  tar. 
One  day  in  the  North  Sea  a  British  patrol-vessel 
came  across  a  trawler.  It  resembled  the  ordi- 
nary British  trawler,  but  there  were  points  of 
difference,  points  that  interested  the  inquisitive 
— and  suspicious — commander  of  the  war-vessel. 
Chiefly  there  were  a  lot  of  stores  upon  her  deck. 
She  flew  the  Norwegian  flag,  and  her  skipper 
said  he  was  neutral.  But  the  British  com- 
mander decided  to  take  a  chance.  He  arrested 
the  crew,  placed  them  in  irons,  and  manned  the 


148  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

trawler  with  a  crew  of  French  and  English  navy 
men. 

The  trawler  hovered  about  in  the  same  lo- 
cality for  three  days,  and  then  one  morning,  lo 
and  behold,  a  periscope  popped  up  close  along- 
side. Seeing  the  waters  clear  of  enemy  ships, 
the  U-boat  came  to  the  surface  and  frisked 
blithely  up  to  the  trawler.  She  was  greeted  by  a 
shower  of  machine-gun  bullets,  and  surrendered 
without  ado.  There  was  really  nothing  else  for 
the  surprised  skipper  to  do.  For  when  he  had 
last  seen  that  trawler  she  was  the  parent  ship 
of  the  submarine  flotilla  operating  in  that  vicin- 
ity. In  all,  before  the  week  was  over,  that 
trawler  had  captured  six  submarines  without 
the  loss  of  a  life,  and  no  one  injured. 

Thereafter  the  parent-ship  trawler  was  seized 
whenever  the  British  could  capture  one,  and  the 
same  expedient  was  tried.  But  after  a  time  the 
Germans  became  wary  of  approaching  parent- 
ships  until  they  were  convinced  that  their 
parenthood  was  more  real  than  assumed. 

Then  one  day  after  the  Americans  arrived  a 
three-masted  schooner  was  commandeered. 
They  put  a  deck-load  of  lumber  on  her;  at  least 


A  FAKE  SCHOONER  149 

it  was  an  apparent  deck-load.  It  was  really  a 
mask  for  a  broadside  of  3-potmder  guns,  differ- 
ent sections  of  the  deck-load  swinging  open  to 
admit  of  free  play  of  the  guns,  as  levers  were 
pulled. 

The  schooner,  commanded  by  a  Maine 
skipper  and  his  crew,  was  turned  loose  in  the 
North  Sea.  Astern  towed  a  dingy;  from  the 
taffrail  flew  the  American  flag.  Before  long  out 
popped  a  submarine.  Aha !  A  lumber-laden 
vessel — American!  The  German  commander, 
grinning  broadly,  stepped  into  a  gig  with  a 
bombing  crew;  torpedoes  were  not  wasted  on 
sailing-vessels. 

"Get  into  your  dingy,"  he  cried,  motioning 
toward  the  craft  dangling  astern. 

The  Maine  skipper,  in  his  red  underclothes, 
besought,  and  then  cursed — while  the  German 
grinned  the  more  broadly.  Finally,  however, 
the  irate — sic — skipper  and  his  crew  of  five 
clambered  into  their  dingy  as  ordered  by  the 
commander  of  the  submarine.  And  then  !  No 
sooner  had  the  schooner  crew  cleared  the  wind- 
jammer than  the  deck-load  of  lumber  resolved 
itself  into  a  series  of  doors,  and  out  of  each  door 


150  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

protruded  a  gun.  It  was  the  last  of  that  sub- 
marine, of  course.  The  schooner  got  five  sub- 
marines before  another  submarine  happened  to 
witness  the  destruction  of  a  companion  craft. 

Next  day  when  the  schooner  approached  a 
submarine  the  undersea  boat  let  drive  with  a 
torpedo,  and  the  joyous  days  of  that  particular 
wind-jammer  were  at  an  end.  But  thereafter 
the  Germans  seldom  tried  to  bomb  a  sailing  craft. 

Airplanes  have  played  their  important  part 
in  the  work  of  our  navy  in  combating  the  sub- 
marine. Seaplanes  are  sent  on  patrol  from 
regular  bases  or  from  the  deck  of  a  parent-vessel, 
a  steamship  of  large  size.  Flying  at  a  height  of 
10,000  feet,  an  airplane  operator  can  see  the 
shadow  of  a  submarine  proceeding  beneath  the 
surface.  Thus  viewing  his  prey,  the  aviator 
descends  and  drops  a  depth-bomb  into  the 
water.  Our  airmen  have  already  won  great 
commendation  from  the  British  Admiralty  and 
aerial  commanders.  Whatever  may  have  been 
the  delays  in  airplane  production  in  this  coun- 
try, the  American  Navy  has  not  been  at  fault, 
and  Secretary  Daniels's  young  men  went  into 
British  seaplanes  when  American  planes  were 


AVIATORS  IN  ACTION  151 

not  at  hand.  From  British  Admiralty  sources 
have  come  many  tales  of  the  skill  and  courage 
of  the  American  aviators.  There  was  one  re- 
cent instance  noted  of  an  American  pilot  scout- 
ing for  submarines  who  spotted  a  periscope. 
He  dropped  a  bomb  a  few  feet  astern  and  a  few 
feet  ahead  of  that  periscope,  both  bombs  fall- 
ing perfectly  in  line  with  the  objective.  He 
circled  and  then  dropped  a  bomb  in  the  centre 
of  a  disturbance  in  the  water.  Up  came  oil  in 
great  quantities. 

Another  American  pilot  managed  the  rare 
feat  of  dropping  a  bomb  precisely  upon  the 
centre  of  the  deck  of  a  submarine,  and  had  the 
unhappy  experience  of  seeing  it  fail  to  explode 
— as  recently  happened  in  the  submarine  fight 
off  Cape  Cod,  near  Chatham. 

In  hunting  for  the  submarines  the  American 
destroyers  have  patrolled  an  area  as  wide  as 
that  bounded  roughly  by  the  great  V  formed  by 
New  York,  Detroit,  and  Knoxville,  Tenn.  And 
while  patrolling  they  have  become  skilled  in  the 
use  of  the  depth  charges,  in  establishing  smoke 
screens  so  as  to  hide  vessels  of  a  convoy  from 
the  periscope  eye,  and  in  marksmanship.  One 


152  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

gun  crew  not  long  ago  saw  the  spar  of  a  sunken 
ship  which  they  at  first  took  to  be  a  periscope. 
They  shattered  that  spar  at  a  distance  of  2,000 
yards — more  than  a  mile. 

Filled  with  the  enthusiasm  of  each  new  en- 
counter with  the  enemy,  the  Americans  have  not 
been  slow  to  build  upon  their  experience,  devis- 
ing more  effective  methods  against  the  next 
affray.  For  example,  two  officers  working  on 
designs  for  new  destroyers  have  introduced 
many  new  ideas  gained  from  their  experiences 
in  submarine-hunting.  Suggestions  relating  to 
improved  gun-fire  and  the  like  are  always  arising 
from  the  men  of  the  fleet,  and  often  they  are 
accepted  and  applied. 

A  new  appliance — I  don't  know  by  whom  in- 
vented— is  an  improved  microphone,  by  which 
the  revolutions  of  a  propeller  are  not  only  heard, 
but  the  direction  also  is  indicated,  while  the 
force  of  the  under-water  sound-waves  are  trans- 
lated on  an  indicator  in  terms  of  proximity. 
The  great  drawback  to  this  is  that  the  sub- 
marines are  also  equipped  with  microphones 
of  the  sort — or  at  least  are  said  to  be. 

It  is  usually  a  grim  business  on  both  sides; 


HANS  ROSE  153 

but  occasionally  a  bit  of  humor  comes  out  of 
the  seas.  A  case  in  point  was  the  message  re- 
ceived almost  every  night  by  an  American  de- 
stroyer in  European  waters.  The  radiogram 
said: 

"My  position  is degrees  north,  and 

degrees  west.     Come  and  get  me;  I  am  waiting 

HANS  ROSE. 

Now  Hans  Rose  was  the  name  of  the  German 
submarine  commander  who  visited  Newport, 
October,  1917,  as  we  have  already  narrated. 
Twice  the  destroyer  proceeded  swiftly  to  the 
location,  but  never  did  Hans  Rose  keep  his 
appointment.  If  he  had  the  American  sailors 
would  not  have  given  Captain  Rose's  crew  beer 
upon  that  occasion,  as  they  did  when  Rose  and 
his  U-boat  dropped  into  Newport  harbor. 

Then  there  is  a  submarine  commander  known 
throughout  the  American  flotilla  as  "Kelly." 
He  commands  a  mine-laying  submarine,  which 
pays  frequent  visits  to  the  district  patrolled  by 
the  American  destroyers.  When  he  has  fin- 
ished his  task  of  distributing  his  mines  where 


154  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

they  will  do  the  most  harm,  he  generally  de- 
votes a  few  minutes  to  a  prank  of  some  sort. 
Sometimes,  it  is  a  note  flying  from  a  buoy, 
scribbled  in  schoolboy  English,  and  addressed 
to  his  American  enemy.  On  other  occasions 
Kelly  and  his  men  leave  the  submarine  and 
saunter  along  a  desolate  stretch  of  Irish  shore- 
line, always  leaving  behind  them  a  placard  or 
other  memento  of  their  visit. 

But  the  most  hazardous  exploit,  according  to 
gossip  of  American  forecastles,  was  a  visit  which 
Kelly  made  to  Dublin,  remaining,  it  is  said, 
for  two  days  at  one  of  the  principal  hotels,  and 
later  rejoining  his  boat  somewhere  on  the  west 
coast. 

His  latest  feat  was  to  visit  an  Irish  village  and 
plant  the  German  flag  on  a  rise  of  land  above 
the  town.  One  may  imagine  how  the  Irish 
fisherfolk,  who  have  suffered  from  mines, 
treated  this  flag  and  how  ardently  they  wished 
that  flag  were  the  body  of  Kelly. 

But  Kelly  and  his  less  humorously  inclined 
commanders  have  been  having  a  diminishing 
stock  of  enjoyment  at  the  expense  of  the  Allied 
navies  in  the  past  year.  Senator  Swanson, 


SUBMARINE   SINKINGS  155 

acting  chairman  of  the  Naval  Committee  in 
Congress,  said  on  June  6,  after  a  conference 
with  Secretary  Daniels  and  his  assistants,  that 
the  naval  forces  of  the  Entente  Powers  had  de- 
stroyed 60  per  cent  of  all  German  submarines 
constructed,  and  that  they  had  cut  the  shipping 
losses  in  half.  Lloyd  George  in  his  great  speech 
last  July,  said  that  150  submarines  had  been 
sunk  since  war  began  and  of  this  number  75 
were  sunk  in  the  past  12  months.  Truly  an 
extraordinary  showing. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

PERILS  AND  TRIUMPHS  OF  SUBMARINE-HUNTING — THE  LOSS 
OF  OUR  FIRST  WAR-SHIP,  THE  CONVERTED  GUNBOAT  "AL- 
CEDO" BRAVERY  OF  CREW "CASSESf"  STRUCK  BY  TOR- 
PEDO, BUT  REMAINS  IN  THE  FIGHT LOSS  OF  THE  "  JACOB 

JONES" SINKING  OF  THE  "  SAN  DIEGO  " — DESTROYERS 

"NICHOLSON"  AND  "FANNING"  CAPTURE  A  SUBMARINE, 

WHICH  SINKS CREW  OF  GERMANS  BROUGHT  INTO  PORT 

THE  POLICY  OF  SILENCE  IN  REGARD  TO  SUBMARINE- 
SINKINGS 

BUT  as  in  the  pursuit  of  dangerous  game 
there  is  always  liable  to  be  two  angles  to 
any  experience — or  say,  rather,  a  reverse  angle, 
such  as  the  hunted  turning  hunter — so  in  the 
matter  of  our  fight  against  the  submarine  there 
are  instances — not  many,  happily — where  the 
U-boat  has  been  able  to  deal  its  deadly  blow 
first. 

The  first  of  our  war-ships  to  be  sunk  by  a 
submarine  was  the  naval  patrol  gun-boat  Al- 
cedo,  which  was  torpedoed  shortly  before  2 
o'clock  on  the  morning  of  November  5,  1917, 
almost  exactly  seven  months  after  we  entered 
the  war.  She  was  formerly  G.  W.  Childs 
Drexel's  yacht  Akedo,  and  Anthony  J.  Drexel 

156 


LOSS  OF  THE  ALCEDO  157 

Paul,  an  officer  in  the  Naval  Reserve,  was  on 
her  at  the  time.  The  vessel  was  the  flag-ship 
of  one  of  the  patrol-flotillas,  and  for  months 
had  performed  splendid  service  in  the  North 
Sea. 

The  torpedo  that  sunk  the  vessel  came  with- 
out warning,  and  so  true  was  the  aim  that  the 
war-ship  went  down  in  four  minutes,  carrying 
with  her  one  officer  and  twenty  of  the  crew. 
Commander  William  T.  Conn,  U.  S.  N.,  who 
commanded  the  vessel,  in  telling  later  of  the 
experience,  paid  a  high  testimonial  to  the  cool- 
ness and  bravery  of  the  crew.  Eighty  per  cent 
of  the  men  were  reserves,  but  regulars  could 
have  left  no  better  record  of  courage  and  pre- 
cision. 

"Here,"  said  Commander  Conn,  "is  a  story 
that  indicates  the  kind  of  men  we  have  in  the 
navy.  I  had  a  young  lad  in  my  crew,  a  yeo- 
man, and  one  day  I  sent  for  him  and  told  him 
that  if  we  were  ever  torpedoed  he  was  to  save 
the  muster-roll,  so  that  when  it  was  all  over  it 
would  be  possible  to  check  up  and  find  who 
had  been  saved.  Well,  the  Alcedo  was  torpe- 
doed at  2  o'clock  one  morning,  and  in  four 


158  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

minutes  she  disappeared  forever.  Hours  after- 
ward, when  we  were  waiting  to  be  picked  up,  I 
saw  my  yeoman,  and  I  said: 

"'Son,  where  is  my  muster-roll?' 

"Here  it  is,'  he  replied,  as  he  reached  inside 
his  shirt  and  pulled  it  out.  .  .  .  And  that 
same  boy,  in  the  terrible  minutes  that  followed 
the  loss  of  our  ship,  found  a  broken  buoy.  He 
was  holding  on  to  it  when  he  saw  one  of  our 
hospital  stewards,  who  was  about  to  give  in. 
He  struggled  to  the  side  of  the  steward  and 
with  one  hand  held  him  above  the  water  while 
with  the  other  he  clung  to  the  buoy.  He  held 
on  until  both  were  saved." 

While  the  Alcedo  was  the  first  war-vessel  to 
be  sunk  by  a  submarine,  the  first  war-ship  to 
be  stricken  in  torpedo  attack  was  the  destroyer 
Cassin,  one  of  the  vessels  that  raced  out  of  New- 
port to  rescue  the  victims  of  the  ravages  of  the 
German  U-boat  off  Nantucket,  in  October,  1916. 
The  Cassin  was  on  patrol  duty  and  had  sighted 
a  submarine  about  four  miles  away.  The  de- 
stroyer, in  accordance  with  custom,  headed  for 
the  spot,  and  had  about  reached  it  when  the 
skipper,  Commander  Walter  H.  Vernou,  sighted 


THE   CASSIN  159 

a  torpedo  running  at  high  speed  near  the  sur- 
face, and  about  400  yards  away.  The  missile 
was  headed  straight  for  the  midship  section  of 
the  war-ship.  Realizing  the  situation,  the  com- 
manding officer  rang  for  the  emergency  full 
speed  ahead  on  both  engines,  put  the  rudder 
hard  over,  and  was  just  clear  of  the  torpedo's 
course  when  it  broached  on  the  water,  turned 
sharply  and  headed  for  the  stern  of  the  vessel. 
Here  stood  Osmond  Kelly  Ingram,  gunner's 
mate,  at  his  gun.  He  saw  that  if  the  torpedo 
struck  at  the  stern  it  would,  aside  from  working 
initial  damage,  cause  the  explosion  of  munitions 
stored  on  the  after  deck. 

Thereupon,  knowing  that  the  torpedo  was 
going  to  strike  about  where  he  stood,  he  ran  to 
the  pile  of  munitions  and  tumbled  them  into 
the  sea.  The  explosion  occurred  as  he  was  at 
Work,  and  he  was  blown  into  the  ocean  and  lost. 
But  he  had  not  died  in  vain,  for  the  secondary 
explosion  that  he  feared  was  averted  by  his  act 
of  supreme  sacrifice. 

Fortunately,  only  one  engine  was  disabled  by 
the  explosion,  and  the  destroyer  was  thus  per- 
mitted to  remain  under  way.  She  zigzagged  to 


160  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

and  fro,  hoping  to  get  a  chance  at  her  assailant, 
and  in  about  an  hour  the  German  submarine 
commander  decided  that  it  was  a  good  time  to 
come  to  the  surface  for  a  better  look  at  the  de- 
stroyer. As  the  conning-tower  came  into  view 
the  Cassin's  gunners  delivered  four  shots,  two 
of  which  fell  so  close  to  the  U-boat  that  she 
submerged  and  was  not  seen  agam.  In  the 
meantime  the  crew,  with  splendid  team-work, 
set  about  repairing  the  damage  and  attending 
to  the  five  men  who  were  wounded,  none  seri- 
ously. 

After  a  while  British  war-ships  came  up  and 
the  Cassin  returned  to  port.  Admiral  Sims 
mentioned  Commander  Vernou  and  his  officers 
in  despatches  to  Secretary  Daniels,  and  more 
than  a  score  of  the  seamen  were  cited  for  cool- 
ness and  efficiency. 

Our  second  war-ship  definitely  known  to  be 
sunk  by  the  German  submarines  was  the  de- 
stroyer Jacob  Jones.,  which  was  struck  at  4.12 
o'clock  on  the  afternoon  of  December  6,  last. 
The  destroyer  was  on  patrol,  and  nothing  was 
known  of  the  proximity  of  the  submarine  until 
the  torpedo  hit  the  vessel.  The  Jacob  Jones, 


THE  JACOB  JONES  161 

which  was  commanded  by  Lieutenant-Com- 
mander David  Worth  Bagley,  a  brother-in-law 
of  Secretary  Daniels  and  brother  of  Ensign 
Worth  Bagley,  who  was  killed  on  the  torpedo- 
boat  Winslow  in  the  fight  at  Cardenas  in  the 
Spanish-American  War,  went  down  in  seven- 
teen minutes  after  she  was  struck.  Gunner 
Harry  R.  Hood  was  killed  by  the  explosion,  but 
the  remainder  of  the  company  got  safely  over- 
side in  rafts  and  boats.  The  submarine  ap- 
peared after  the  sinking  and  took  one  of  the 
survivors  aboard  as  a  prisoner.  Lieutenant- 
Commander  Bagley,  with  five  others,  landed  in 
a  small  boat  on  the  Scilly  Islands  while  other 
survivors  reached  shore  in  various  ways.  The 
Jacob  Jones  was  regarded  by  superstitious  navy 
men  as  something  of  a  Jonah,  she  having  fig- 
ured in  one  or  two  incidents  involving  German 
spies  while  in  this  country. 

The  first  and  to  date  the  only  American  war- 
ship lost  in  American  waters  as  a  result  of  sub- 
marine attack  was  the  armored  cruiser  San 
Diego — formerly  the  California — which  was 
sunk  by  a  mine  off  Point  o'  Woods  on  the 
Long  Island  coast  on  the  morning  of  July  19, 


162  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

1918.  Facts  associated  with  the  disaster,  in- 
volving the  loss  of  some  fifty  lives,  are  illu- 
minated with  the  light  of  supreme  heroism,  gal- 
lantry, and  utter  devotion.  In  no  single  instance 
was  there  failure  on  the  part  of  officers  or  crew 
to  meet  the  unexpected  test  in  a  manner  quite 
in  accordance  with  the  most  glorious  annals 
of  the  United  States  Navy. 

Point  will  perhaps  be  given  to  this  if  we  pic- 
ture Captain  Harley  H.  Christie  pushing  his 
way  about  the  welter  of  wreckage  in  a  barrel, 
reorganizing  some  800  of  his  men,  who  were 
floating  about  on  every  conceivable  sort  of 
object,  into  the  disciplined  unit  that  they  had 
comprised  before  they  were  ordered  overside 
to  take  then*  chances  in  the  ocean.  Or  again, 
taking  the  enlisted-man  aspect  of  the  situation, 
there  was  the  full-throated  query  of  a  husky 
seaman,  clinging  to  a  hatch  as  the  San  Diego 
disappeared: 

"Where's  the  captain?" 

Then  a  chorus  of  voices  from  the  water: 

"There  he  is!  See  his  old  bald  head!  God 
bless  it !  Three  cheers  for  the  skip  ! " 

There  they  all  were,  some  800  men,  survivors 


THE  LOSS  OF  THE  SAN  DIEGO         163 

of  a  company  numbering  thirteen-odd  hundred, 
in  the  water,  out  of  sight  of  land,  not  a  ship  in 
sight — and  twelve  life-boats  among  them,  cheer- 
ing, singing,  exchanging  badinage  and  words  of 
good  hope. 

The  San  Diego,  which  was  one  of  the  crack 
shooting-ships  of  the  navy,  and  had  made  seven 
round  trips  to  France  in  convoy  work  with- 
out ever  having  seen  a  submarine,  was  on  her 
way  from  the  Portsmouth,  N.  H.,  navy -yard, 
where  she  had  been  completely  overhauled  in 
dry -dock  and  coaled,  to  New  York,  where 
her  crew  were  to  have  had  short  liberty,  pre- 
liminary to  another  voyage  to  France.  She 
carried  a  heavy  deck-load  of  lumber  which  she 
was  to  take  to  France  for  the  Marine  Corps. 
She  had  in  her  bunkers  some  3,000  tons  of  coal. 

On  the  morning  of  July  19,  the  cruiser,  shortly 
after  11  o'clock,  had  reached  a  point  about 
seven  miles  southeast  of  Point  o'  Woods.  The 
sun  was  shining  brilliantly,  but  the  coast-line 
was  veiled  in  a  heavy  haze.  There  was  a  fair 
ground-swell  running,  but  no  sea.  The  San 
Diego  was  ploughing  along  at  a  fifteen-knot  clip, 
not  pursuing  the  zigzag  course  which  it  is  cus- 


164  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

ternary  for  vessels  to  follow  in  enemy-infested 
waters. 

No  submarine  warning  had  been  issued,  and, 
as  the  vessel  was  only  seven  miles  offshore, 
there  may  be  no  doubt  that  the  officers  of  the 
war-ship  did  not  consider  the  trip  as  any  more 
hazardous  than  the  hundreds  of  journeys  she 
had  made  along  our  coast  from  port  to  port. 
The  crew  were  engaged  in  the  usual  routine, 
with  the  added  labor  of  getting  the  vessel  ship- 
shape after  the  grimy  operation  of  coaling  at 
Portsmouth.  The  explosion  came  without 
warning  at  11.15  o'clock.  It  was  extremely 
heavy,  accompanied  by  a  rending  and  grinding 
of  metal  and  by  the  explosion  of  the  after- 
powder  magazine,  which  destroyed  the  quarter- 
deck and  sent  the  mainmast,  with  wireless  at- 
tached, crashing  overboard.  The  torpedo,  or 
whatever  it  was,  wrecked  the  engine-room, 
demolished  the  boilers,  and  put  the  electric 
dynamos  out  of  order. 

The  thunderous  explosion  was  followed  im- 
mediately by  the  insistent  whine  of  bugles  and 
the  clanging  of  alarm-bells,  calling  the  crew  to 
battle-stations.  And  the  crew  went  quietly, 


"ABANDON  SHIP  !"  165 

without  the  slightest  disorder.  Down  in  the 
bunkers,  four  decks  below,  was  an  officer,  with 
a  party  of  seamen,  setting  things  to  rights  after 
the  coaling.  As  the  explosion  occurred  and 
the  vessel  heeled,  these  men,  as  though  instinc- 
tively, formed  into  a  line,  and  then  without 
excitement  or  hurry  climbed  the  four  upright 
steel  ladders  to  the  deck,  the  officer,  of  course, 
following  last  of  all. 

On  deck  the  6-inch  starboard  and  port  bat- 
teries were  blazing  away,  not  only  at  objects 
that  might  turn  out  to  be  periscopes  or  sub- 
marines, but  in  order  to  call  assistance;  for 
the  wireless  was  out  of  commission,  and  there 
was  not  a  sail  or  a  hull  in  sight. 

After  a  few  minutes,  the  bugles  sounded  the 
order  "Prepare  to  abandon  ship."  This  ap- 
plied to  every  one  but  the  gun  crews,  who  had 
to  remain  at  their  stations  for  at  least  five  min- 
utes after  the  process  of  abandonment  was  put 
into  operation.  The  post  of  one  of  the  gun- 
crew officers  was  in  the  fighting-top  of  the 
basket-mast  forward,  his  duty  being  that  of 
spotter  of  his  crew.  As  he  hurried  along  the 
deck  to  his  station  the  crew  lined  up  along  the 


166  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

port  rail  with  life-preservers  and  were  jumping 
into  the  sea  as  ordered. 

There  were  comrades  who  had  been  killed 
or  maimed  by  the  shifting  deck-load  of  lumber; 
there  were  comrades  who,  in  jumping  into  the 
sea,  had  struck  their  heads  against  the  steel 
hull,  breaking  their  necks,  and  yet  there  the 
rest  stood  in  line,  waiting  for  the  orders  that 
would  send  them  overboard. 

"Isn't  this  a  crime,"  laughed  one  of  the  sea- 
men, "just  after  I  had  got  on  my  liberty  blues 
and  was  all  set  for  the  high  spots  in  New 
York!" 

"Gripes!  My  cigarettes  are  all  wet!  Who's 
got  a  dry  one?" 

"Look  out  there,  kid;  be  careful  you  don't 
get  your  feet  wet." 

Twelve  life-boats  were  overside,  set  adrift 
in  the  usual  manner  to  be  filled  after  the  men 
were  in  the  water.  Then,  of  course,  the  sea 
was  littered  with  lumber  and  all  sorts  of  debris 
which  would  keep  a  man  afloat. 

While  the  abandonment  of  the  ship  was 
under  way,  the  officer  who  had  been  in  the 
bunkers,  and  whose  station  was  in  the  fight- 


OVERSIDE  167 

ing-top,  hurried  upward  to  his  post.  The  port 
guns  were  still  being  served,  but  their  muzzles 
were  inclining  ever  downward  toward  the  water. 
In  his  battle-station  this  officer  directed  the 
firing  of  the  port  guns  until  their  muzzles  dipped 
beneath  the  surface  of  the  sea.  There  were 
three  officers  with  him  in  the  fighting-top  and 
three  seamen.  Below  they  saw  the  perfect 
order  which  obtained,  the  men  stepping  into 
the  sea  in  ranks,  laughing  and  cheering. 

Presently  this  officer  sent  one  of  the  seamen 
down  the  mast  to  get  life-belts  for  the  group  of 
men  in  the  spotting-station.  By  the  time  he 
returned  the  bugles  were  ordering  the  total 
abandonment  of  the  vessel. 

So  the  little  group  made  their  way,  not  to 
the  deck,  which  was  now  straight  up  and  down, 
but  to  the  starboard  side  of  the  hull,  upon  which 
they  could  walk,  the  vessel  then  being  prac- 
tically on  her  beam  ends.  Trapped  at  their 
stations  on  the  port  side  were  members  of  the 
6-inch  port  battery.  One  of  them  was  seen 
by  a  comrade  just  before  rising  waters  shut 
him  from  view.  The  sinking  man  nodded  and 
waved  his  hand. 


168  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

"Good-by,  Al,"  he  said. 

As  the  officer  who  had  been  in  the  fighting- 
top  jumped  clear  into  the  sea,  the  vessel  began 
to  go  down,  now  by  the  head.  Slowly  the  stern 
rose,  and  as  it  did  so,  he  says,  the  propellers 
came  into  view,  and  perched  on  one  of  the  blades 
was  a  devil-may-care  American  seaman,  waving 
his  hat  and  shouting. 

The  vessel,  the  officer  says,  disappeared  at 
11.30  o'clock,  fifteen  minutes  after  the  explo- 
sion occurred.  There  was  some  suction  as  the 
San  Diego  disappeared,  but  not  enough,  ac- 
cording to  the  calculation  of  the  survivors  with 
whom  I  talked,  to  draw  men  to  their  death. 

In  the  course  of  another  hour,  Captain  Chris- 
tie had  collected  as  many  of  his  officers  as  he 
could,  and  the  work  of  apportioning  the  sur- 
vivors to  the  twelve  boats  and  to  pieces  of  flot- 
sam was  carried  on  with  naval  precision.  One 
man,  clinging  to  a  grating,  called  out  that  he 
had  cramps.  A  comrade  in  one  of  the  boats 
thereupon  said  the  sailor  could  have  his  place. 
He  leaped  into  the  sea  and  the  man  with  cramps 
was  assisted  into  the  boat. 

While  this  was  going  on  a  seaplane  from  the 


CAPTAIN  CHRISTIE  169 

Bay  Shore  station  passed  over  the  heads  of 
the  men  in  the  water.  The  seamen  did  not 
think  they  had  been  seen,  but  they  had  been, 
and  the  aviator,  flying  to  Point  o'  Woods,  landed 
and  used  the  coast-guard  telephone  to  apprise 
the  Fire  Island  coast-guards  of  the  disaster. 
From  this  station  word  was  sent  broadcast 
by  wireless.  In  the  meantime,  Captain  Christie 
had  picked  two  crews  of  the  strongest  seamen 
and  had  them  placed  in  No.  1  and  No.  2  life- 
boats. These  men  were  ordered  to  row  south- 
west to  Fire  Island  and  summon  assistance. 

In  one  boat  thirteen  men  were  placed;  in 
the  other  fourteen.  As  the  captain  got  the 
boat-crews  arranged,  his  barrel  began  to  get 
waterlogged  and  became  rather  precarious  as 
a  support;  whereupon  a  floating  seaman  pushed 
his  way  through  the  water  with  a  ladder. 

"Here,  sir,"  he  said,  "try  this." 

Thus  it  was  that  Captain  Christie  trans- 
ferred to  a  new  flag-ship. 

The  boat-crews  left  the  scene  of  the  disaster 
at  12.35,  and  they  rowed  in  fifteen-minute  re- 
lays from  that  hour  until  quarter  past  three. 
Before  they  had  gone  four  miles  merchant  ships 


170  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

were  rushing  to  the  spot,  as  set  forth  in  the 
wireless  warning.  These  merchantmen  got  all 
of  the  men  afloat  in  the  water — or  a  vast  ma- 
jority of  them — and  took  them  to  the  naval 
station  at  Hoboken. 

At  the  time  of  the  disaster  and  for  twenty- 
four  hours  thereafter  there  was  some  doubt 
whether  or  not  the  San  Diego  had  been  lost 
through  contact  with  a  mine,  or  was  struck 
by  a  torpedo  launched  from  a  submarine.  Sub- 
marine activities  off  Cape  Cod  the  following 
Sunday,  however,  gave  proof  that  the  under- 
sea boats  had  made  their  second  hostile  visit 
to  our  shores. 

But  later  belief  was  that  the  cruiser  was 
sunk  by  a  mine  planted  by  the  submarine. 
One  of  our  most  illustrious  exploits,  indeed,  oc- 
curred hardly  a  fortnight  before  the  loss  of  the 
Jones,  when  two  destroyers,  the  Nicholson  and 
Fanning,  steamed  into  their  base  with  flags  fly- 
ing and  German  prisoners  on  their  decks. 

It  was  a  clear  November  afternoon,  and  the 
destroyer  Fanning  was  following  her  appointed 
route  through  the  waters  of  the  North  Sea. 
Off  to  starboard  the  destroyer  Nicholson  was 


THE  NICHOLSON  AND  FANNING        171 

plunging  on  her  way,  throwing  clouds  of  black 
smoke  across  the  horizon.  Near  by  was  a  mer- 
chant vessel,  and  the  destroyers  were  engaged 
in  taking  her  through  the  dangerous  waters  to 
safety.  The  air  was  so  clear  that  minutest 
objects  on  the  horizon  were  easily  picked  up  by 
the  questing  binoculars  of  the  men  on  watch. 
Suddenly  came  a  cry  from  one  of  the  forward 
lookouts: 

"Periscope,  two  points  off  the  starboard 
bow!" 

The  call  sounded  from  stem  to  stern,  and 
instantly  the  alarm  to  general  quarters  was 
sounded  while  the  helm  was  thrown  hard  over. 
The  signalman  bent  over  his  flag-locker  and, 
in  compliance  with  the  order  of  the  commander, 
bent  flags  onto  the  halyards,  giving  the  location 
of  the  submarine  to  the  Nicholson,  while  helio- 
graph flashes  from  the  bridge  summoned  her 
to  joint  attack.  The  waters  were  smooth,  with 
a  long  swell,  and  the  lookout  had  seen  a  scant 
eighteen  inches  of  periscope,  which  had  van- 
ished immediately  it  fell  under  his  vision.  Un- 
doubtedly the  observer  at  the  other  end  of  the 
submarine's  periscope  had  seen  the  Fanning  at 


172  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

about  the  same  time  the  presence  of  the  under- 
sea craft  was  detected.  It  had  appeared  about 
400  yards  from  the  destroyer's  course. 

In  less  time  than  it  takes  to  tell,  the  Fanning, 
with  throttles  suddenly  opened,  plunged  into 
the  waters  where  the  periscope  had  last  been 
seen.  And  at  the  proper  moment  the  com- 
mander, standing  tensely  on  the  bridge,  released 
a  depth-bomb  from  its  fixed  place.  The  ex- 
plosive, 300  pounds  in  weight,  sank  with  a 
gentle  splash  into  the  rolling  wake  of  the  de- 
stroyer and,  at  the  depth  as  regulated  before 
the  bomb  was  released,  it  exploded  with  a  terrific 
report. 

Up  from  the  ocean  rose  a  towering  column  of 
water.  It  hung  in  the  air  for  a  moment  like  a 
geyser,  and  then  gradually  fell  back  to  the  level 
of  the  sea.  A  score  of  voices  proclaimed  the 
appearance  of  oil  floating  upon  the  water.  Oil 
is  sometimes  released  by  a  submarine  to  throw 
an  attacking  destroyer  off  the  scent;  but  this 
time  there  were  bubbles,  too.  That  was  quite 
significant.  Then  while  the  Fanning  circled  the 
spot  wherein  the  explosion  had  occurred,  the 
Nicholson  stormed  up,  cut  across  the  supposed 


BAGGED !  173 

lurking-place  of  the  submarine,  and  released  one 
of  her  depth  charges.  She,  too,  circled  about 
the  mass  of  boiling,  oil-laden  water. 

For  several  minutes  the  two  destroyers 
wheeled  in  and  out  like  hawks  awaiting  their 
prey,  and  then  suddenly  there  was  a  cry  as  a 
disturbance  was  noted  almost  directly  between 
the  two  craft.  The  rush  of  water  grew  in  volume 
until,  as  the  men  of  the  destroyers  watched 
with  all  the  ardor  of  fishermen  landing  trout, 
the  U-boat  came  to  the  surface  like  a  dead 
whale. 

But  the  Americans  were  cautious.  While 
stricken  the  undersea  craft  might  show  fight. 
So  with  guns  and  torpedo-tubes  trained  upon 
the  submarine,  they  waited.  But  there  was  no 
fight  in  that  boat.  The  depth  charges  had 
done  their  work  thoroughly.  While  the  visible 
portion  of  the  hull  appeared  to  have  been  un- 
injured, it  was  perfectly  clear  that  the  vessel 
was  not  under  perfect  control.  Her  ballast- 
tanks  were  damaged,  which  accounted  for  a 
bad  list. 

The  explosions  of  the  depth-bombs  had  hurled 
her  to  the  bottom,  where  she  retained  sufficient 


174  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

buoyancy  to  catapult  to  the  surface.  As  the 
conning-tower  came  into  sight  the  Nicholson 
fired  three  shots  from  her  stern  gun.  The  U-boat 
then  seemed  to  right  herself,  making  fair  speed 
ahead.  The  Fanning  headed  in  toward  her, 
firing  from  the  bow  gun.  After  the  third  shot 
the  crew  of  the  German  vessel  came  up  on  deck, 
their  hands  upraised. 

While  approaching  the  craft  both  the  de- 
stroyers kept  their  guns  trained  for  instant  use, 
but,  as  it  turned  out,  precautions  were  unneces- 
sary. Lines  were  thrown  aboard  the  submersi- 
ble and  were  made  fast;  but  the  U-boat,  either 
stricken  mortally  or  scuttled  by  her  crew,  began 
to  settle.  Lines  were  hastily  cast  off,  and  the 
boat  sought  her  long  rest  upon  the  bottom  of  a 
sea  to  which  no  doubt  she  had  sent  many  harm- 
less vessels. 

The  crew  of  the  U-boat,  all  of  whom  had  life- 
preservers  about  their  waists,  leaped  into  the 
water  and  swam  to  the  Fanning  ;  most  of  them 
were  exhausted  when  they  reached  the  de- 
stroyer's side.  As  the  submarine  sank,  five  or 
six  men  were  caught  in  the  wireless  gear  and 
carried  below  the  surface  before  they  disen- 


RESCUE  OF  GERMANS  175 

tangled  themselves.  Ten  of  the  men  were  so 
weak  that  it  was  necessary  to  pass  lines  under 
their  arms  to  haul  them  aboard.  One  man  was 
in  such  a  state  that  he  could  not  even  hold  the 
line  that  was  thrown  to  him. 

Chief  Pharmacist's  Mate  Elzer  Howell  and 
Coxswain  Francis  G.  Connor  thereupon  jumped 
overboard  and  made  a  line  fast  to  the  German. 
But  he  died  a  few  minutes  after  he  was  hauled 
aboard. 

Once  aboard,  the  prisoners  were  regaled  with 
hot  coffee  and  sandwiches,  and  so  little  did  they 
mind  the  change  to  a  new  environment  that, 
according  to  official  Navy  Department  report, 
they  began  to  sing.  They  were  fitted  with 
warm  clothes  supplied  by  the  American  sailors, 
and  in  other  ways  made  to  feel  that,  pirates 
though  they  were,  and  murderers  as  well,  the 
American  seafaring  man  knew  how  to  be 
magnanimous. 

The  submarine  bore  no  number  nor  other  dis- 
tinguishing marks,  but  her  life-belts  were  marked 
on  one  side  "Kaiser,"  and  on  the  other  "Gott." 
The  Fanning  steamed  to  port  at  high  speed,  and 
at  the  base  transferred  the  prisoners  under 


176  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

guard,  who  as  they  left  the  destroyer  gave  three 
lusty  hochs  for  the  Fanning' s  men.  Then  the 
Fanning  put  out  to  sea  a  few  miles,  and  after 
the  young  American  commander  had  read  the 
burial  service,  the  body  of  the  German  seaman 
who  had  died  was  committed  to  the  depths. 
The  commander  of  the  Fanning  was  Lieuten- 
ant A.  S.  Carpender,  a  Jersey  man,  who  in  his 
report  gave  particular  praise  to  Lieutenant  Wal- 
ter Henry,  officer  of  the  deck,  and  to  Coxswain 
Loomis,  who  first  sighted  the  submarine. 

This  was  by  no  means  the  first  time  a  sub- 
marine had  been  sunk  by  an  American  destroyer, 
but  in  accordance  with  the  British  policy,  the 
Americans  had  withheld  all  information  of  the 
sort.  However,  this  was  such  a  good  story,  and 
the  capture  of  prisoners  so  unusual,  that  by 
agreement  between  the  Navy  Department  and 
the  British  Admiralty,  the  salient  details  of 
this  encounter  were  given  to  the  public. 

The  idea  of  secrecy  was  devised  by  the  British 
at  the  very  outset,  the  purpose  being  to  make 
the  waging  of  submarine  warfare  doubly  objec- 
tionable to  the  men  of  the  German  Navy.  It  is 
bad  enough  to  be  lost  in  a  naval  engagement,  but 


IDEA  OF  SECRECY  177" 

at  least  the  names  of  the  ships  involved  and  the 
valor  of  the  crews,  both  friend  and  enemy,  are 
noted.  But  under  the  British  system,  a  sub- 
marine leaves  port,  and  if  she  is  sunk  by  a  patrol- 
vessel  or  other  war-ship,  that  fact  is  never  made 
known.  The  Germans  know  simply  that  still 
another  submarine  has  entered  the  great  void. 

It  adds  a  sinister  element  to  an  occupation 
sufficiently  sinister  in  all  its  details.  There 
may  be  no  doubt  that  the  policy  of  silence  has 
had  its  effect  upon  the  German  morale.  That 
crews  have  mutinied  on  the  high  seas  is  un- 
doubted, while  we  know  of  several  mutinies 
involving  hundreds  of  men  that  have  occurred 
in  German  ports — all  because  of  objections  to 
submarine  service,  it  is  even  said  that  sub- 
marine service  is  now  one  of  the  penalties  for 
sailors  who  have  offended  against  the  German 
naval  regulations,  and  there  are  stories  of  sub- 
marines decked  with  flowers  as  they  leave  port, 
a  symbol,  of  course,  of  men  who  go  out  not 
expecting  to  return — all  for  the  glory  of  the 
man  known  throughout  the  American  Navy 
as  "Kaiser  Bill." 

It  is  thus  unlikely  that  such  success  as  might 


178  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 


may — attend  the  efforts  of  our  coast-patrol 
vessels  to  dispose  of  the  submarines  which  come 
here  will  not  be  published  unless  the  highly  col- 
ored complexion  of  facts  warrants  it.  One  may 
imagine  that  service  in  a  submarine  so  far  from 
home  is  not  alluring,  and  still  less  so  when  sub- 
marines sent  to  the  waters  of  this  hemisphere 
are  heard  from  nevermore. 

Just  how  unpopular  the  service  has  been 
may  be  adduced  from  chance  remarks  of 
German  submarine  prisoners  who  come  to  this 
country  from  time  to  time.  The  men  of  the 
U-boat  sunk  by  the  Fanning  made  no  effort  to 
conceal  their  satisfaction  at  their  change  of 
quarters,  while  Germans  in  other  cases  have 
told  their  British  captors  that  they  were  glad 
they  had  been  taken. 

There  is  the  story  of  the  storekeeper  of  the 
German  submarine  which  sunk  several  vessels 
off  our  coast  last  June.  He  said  he  had  for- 
merly served  on  a  German  liner  plying  between 
Hoboken  and  Hamburg,  and  his  great  regret 
was  that  he  had  not  remained  in  this  country 
when  he  had  a  chance.  Life  on  a  submarine, 
he  said,  was  a  dog's  life. 


HARD  LIFE  ON  SUBMARINE  179 

Even  under  peace  conditions  this  is  so.  The 
men  are  cramped  for  room,  in  the  first  place. 
In  a  storm  the  vessel,  if  on  the  surface,  is  thrown 
almost  end  over  end,  while  the  movement  of 
stormy  waves  affects  a  boat  even  thirty  feet 
below  the  water-level.  Cooking  is  very  often 
out  of  the  question,  and  the  men  must  live  on 
canned  viands.  They  have  not  even  the  ex- 
citement of  witnessing  such  encounters  as  the 
vessel  may  have.  Three  men  only,  the  operating 
officers,  look  through  the  periscope;  the  others 
have  their  .stations  and  their  various  duties 
to  perform.  If  a  vessel  is  sunk  they  know  it 
through  information  conveyed  by  their  officers. 
There  was  a  story  current  in  Washington  before 
we  entered  the  war,  of  a  sailor,  a  German  sailor 
who  had  had  nearly  a  year  of  steady  service  on 
a  submarine.  He  was  a  faithful  man,  and  as 
he  was  about  to  go  ashore  on  a  long  leave,  his 
commanding  officer  asked  what  he  could  do 
for  him. 

"Only  one  thing,"  was  the  reply.  "Let  me 
have  one  look  through  the  periscope." 

In  the  past  year  the  Allies  have  been  employ- 
ing their  own  submarines  in  the  war  against  the 


180  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

German  undersea  peril.  This  has  been  made 
possible  by  the  perfection  of  the  listening  device 
before  referred  to  by  which  the  presence  of  a 
submarine  and  other  details  may  be  made 
known.  But  it  is  a  dangerous  business  at  best, 
and  not  largely  employed,  if  only  for  the  reason 
that  patrol- vessels  are  not  always  likely  to  dis- 
tinguish between  friend  and  foe.  We  have 
in  mind  the  tragic  instance  of  the  American 
cruiser  which  fired  upon  a  submarine  in  the 
Mediterranean,  killing  two  men,  only  to  find 
that  the  vessel  was  an  Italian  undersea  boat. 
Of  course  our  deepest  regrets  were  immediately 
forthcoming,  and  were  accepted  by  the  Italian 
Government  in  like  spirit. 


CHAPTER  IX 

OUR     BATTLESHIP     FLEET GREAT    WORKSHOP    OP    WAR 

PREPARATIONS  FOR  FOREIGN  SERVICE ON  A  BATTLE- 
SHIP DURING  A  SUBMARINE  ATTACK — THE  WIRELESS 
THAT  WENT  WRONG THE  TORPEDO  THAT  MISSED AT- 
TACK ON  SUBMARINE  BASES  OF  DOUBTFUL  EXPEDIENCY 

WHEN  THE  GERMAN  FLEET  COMES  OUT ESTABLISHMENT 

OF  STATION  IN  THE  AZORES 

TT  THEN  the  German  fleet  of  battleships  and 
battle-cruisers  sallies  forth  into  the  North 
Sea  for  a  final  fight  against  the  British  Grand 
Fleet,  they  will  find  American  dreadnoughts  and 
superdreadnoughts  ready  and  eager  to  lend  the 
material  weight  of  their  assistance  to  the  Allied 
cause.  A  substantial  number  of  our  capital 
ships,  under  command  of  Rear-Admiral  Hugh 
Rodman,  are  with  the  Grand  Fleet,  and  have 
been  for  some  months.  Both  in  Washington 
and  in  London  a  German  sea  offensive  on  a 
grand  scale  has  long  been  regarded  as  a  pos- 
sibility, and  the  admiralty  authorities  at  the 
Entente  capitals  are  anxious  for  the  supreme 
test,  and  confident  concerning  its  outcome. 
We  have  already  noted  Admiral  Beatty's  action 

181 


182  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

in  assigning  American  battleships  to  the  place 
of  honor  in  the  line  of  sea-fighters  which  went 
forth  to  meet  a  reported  German  attack  some 
time  ago.  It  was  a  false  report,  but  the  honor 
done  our  naval  fighters  stands. 

The  expansion  of  the  United  States  Navy  has 
also  included  an  enormous  increase  in  our  battle- 
ships and  battle-cruisers;  definite  details  are 
withheld,  but  it  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  we 
are  thoroughly  equipped  to  assist  Great  Britain 
very  vitally  in  this  respect.  In  the  summer  of 
1917  Secretary  Daniels  announced  that  the 
Atlantic  Fleet — our  Grand  Fleet — had  been  re- 
organized into  two  divisions,  officially  known  as 
"forces."  Battleship  Force  One  had  as  com- 
mander Vice-Admiral  Albert  W.  Grant,  and 
Battleship  Force  Two  was  commanded  by  Vice- 
Admiral  DeWitt  Coffman.  Admiral  Henry  T. 
Mayo  remained  as  commander-in-chief. 

"There  are,"  said  Secretary  Daniels  in  an- 
nouncing the  new  arrangement — July  18,  1917 — 
"twice  as  many  battleships  in  commission  as 
we  ever  had  before;  in  fact,  every  battleship  we 
have  is  in  commission.  The  whole  purpose  of 
the  new  organization  is  to  keep  our  battleship 


BATTLESHIP  FORCES  183 

fleet  in  as  perfect  condition  as  possible,  to  put 
it  in  the  highest  state  of  efficiency  and  readiness 
for  action." 

Eventually  an  appreciable  number  of  our 
best  fighters  were  sent  to  the  Grand  Fleet — 
which,  however,  is  by  no  means  to  be  understood 
as  implying  that  our  own  coasts  are  unprotected. 
Not  at  all.  The  Navy  Department  has  a  view- 
point which  embraces  all  possible  angles,  and 
nothing  in  the  way  of  precaution  has  been 
overlooked.  At  the  same  time  it  has  been  the 
theory  of  Secretary  Daniels  that  the  way  to 
beat  the  submarine  and  the  German  Navy  in 
general  was  to  go  to  the  base  of  things,  "to  the 
neck  of  the  bottle,"  and  this  as  much  as  any- 
thing— more,  in  sooth — accounts  for  the  hun- 
dreds of  war-ships  of  various  sorts  that  now 
fly  our  flag  in  the  war  zone. 

The  orders  dividing  the  fleet  into  two  "forces" 
and  despatching  a  representation  of  our  great- 
est fighters  to  the  North  Sea  was  preceded  by 
a  period  of  preparation  the  like  of  which  this 
country — perhaps  the  world — never  saw.  The 
Atlantic  Fleet  was,  indeed,  converted  into  a 
huge  workshop  of  war,  turning  out  its  finished 


184  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

products — fighting  men.  A  visitor  to  the  fleet, 
writing  under  date  of  May  14,  expressed  amaze- 
ment at  the  amount  of  well-ordered  activity 
which  characterized  a  day  on  every  one  of  the 
battleships.  Here  were  men  being  trained  for 
armed-guard  service  on  merchantmen,  groups 
of  neophytes  on  the  after  deck  undergoing  in- 
struction on  the  loading-machines;  farther  along 
a  group  of  qualified  gunners  were  shattering  a 
target  with  their  5-inch  gun.  Other  groups 
were  hidden  in  the  turrets  with  their  long  14 
and  12  inch  guns,  three  or  two  to  a  turret. 
Signal-flags  were  whipping  the  air  aloft — classes 
in  signalling;  while  from  engine-room  and  fight- 
ing-tops each  battleship  hummed  with  the 
activities  of  masters  and  pupils  teaching  and 
learning  every  phase  of  the  complicated  calling 
of  the  modern  navy  man. 

And  there  were  days  when  the  great  fleet 
put  to  sea  for  target  practice  and  for  battle 
manoeuvres,  the  turrets  and  broadsides  belching 
forth  their  tons  upon  tons  of  steel  and  the  ob- 
servers aloft  sending  down  their  messages  of 
commendation  for  shots  well  aimed.  It  is  the 
statement  of  those  in  a  position  to  know  that 


TRAINING  JACKIES  185 

never  were  jackies  so  quick  to  learn  as  those 
of  our  war-time  personnel.  Whether  the  fact 
of  war  is  an  incentive,  or  whether  American 
boys  are  adapted,  through  a  life  of  competitive 
sport,  quickly  to  grasp  the  sailorman's  trade,  the 
truth  remains  that  in  a  very  short  space  the  boy 
who  has  never  seen  a  ship  develops  swiftly  into 
a  bluejacket,  rolling,  swaggering,  but  none  the 
less  deft,  precise,  and  indomitable. 

"They  come  into  the  navy  to  fight,"  said  one 
of  the  officers  of  the  fleet,  "and  they  want  to 
get  into  the  thick  of  it.  We  turn  out  qualified 
gun  crews  in  three  months — and  that  is  going 
some.  A  large  majority  of  the  new  men  of 
the  fleet  come  from  farms,  especially  from  the 
Middle  West.  More  than  90  per  cent  of  the 
seamen  are  native-born,  and  on  any  ship  may 
be  heard  the  Southern  drawl,  the  picturesque 
vernacular  of  the  lower  East  or  West  side  of 
New  York  City,  the  twang  of  New  England,  the 
rising  intonation  of  the  Western  Pennsylvanian, 
and  that  indescribable  vocal  cadence  that  comes 
only  from  west  of  Chicago. 

Not  only  gunners  were  developed,  but  en- 
gineers, electricians,  cooks,  bakers — what-not? 


186  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

They  are  still  being  developed  on  our  home  ships, 
but  in  the  meantime  the  fruits  of  what  was 
done  in  the  time  dating  from  our  entrance  into 
the  war  to  the  present  summer  are  to  be  noted 
chiefly  in  the  North  Sea,  where  our  vessels  He 
waiting  with  then*  sisters  of  the  British  Fleet 
for  the  appearance  of  the  German  armada. 

Let  us  transfer  ourselves  for  the  time  being 
from  the  general  to  the  particular:  in  other 
words,  to  the  deck  of  a  great  American  dread- 
nought, which,  together  with  others  of  her  type, 
has  been  detached  from  the  Atlantic  Fleet  and 
assigned  to  duty  with  Admiral  Beatty's  great 
company  of  battleships  and  battle-cruisers. 
This  battleship  has  entered  the  war  zone,  en 
route  to  a  certain  rendezvous,  whence  all  the 
American  units  will  proceed  to  their  ultimate 
destination  in  company. 

It  is  night.  It  is  a  black  night.  The  stars 
are  viewless  and  the  ocean  through  which  the 
great  steel  hull  is  rushing,  with  only  a  slight 
hiss  where  the  sharp  cutwater  parts  the  waves, 
is  merely  a  part  of  the  same  gloom.  Aloft  and 
on  deck  the  battleship  is  a  part  of  the  night. 
Below  deck  all  is  dark  save  perchance  a  thin, 


ON  A  BATTLESHIP  187 

knife-like  ray  emanating  from  a  battle-lantern. 
The  lookouts,  straining  their  eyes  into  the 
black  for  long,  arduous  stretches,  are  relieved 
and  half-blind  and  dizzy  they  grope  along  the 
deck  to  their  hammocks,  stumbling  over  the 
prostrate  forms  of  men  sleeping  beside  the 
5 -inch  guns,  exchanging  elbow  thrusts  with  those 
of  the  gun  crews  who  are  on  watch. 

The  trip  this  far  has  been  a  constant  suces- 
sion  of  drills  and  instruction  in  the  art  of 
submarine  fighting — all  to  the  tune  of  general 
alarm  and  torpedo  defense  bells.  And  the 
while  preparations  for  sighting  the  enemy  have 
never  been  minimized.  They  involved  precau- 
tions not  dissimilar  to  those  on  board  a  de- 
stroyer or  other  patrol- vessel,  but  were  of  course 
conducted  on  a  vastly  greater  scale.  As  sug- 
gesting an  outline  of  measures  of  watchfulness, 
we  may  regard  this  battleship  as  the  centre  of 
a  pie,  with  special  watches  detailed  to  cover 
their  given  slice  of  this  pie.  These  slices  are 
called  water  sectors,  and  each  sector,  or  slice, 
extends  at  a  given  angle  from  the  course  of  the 
ship  out  to  the  horizon.  Of  course  as  the  vessel 
is  constantly  moving  at  a  rapid  rate,  the  centre 


188  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

of  the  pie  shifts,  too.  In  this  way  every  foot 
of  water  within  the  great  circle  of  the  horizon 
is  under  constant  supervision  night  and  day  by 
a  small  army  of  lookouts,  armed  with  binoc- 
ulars and  gun  telescopes. 

And  so  our  battleship  goes  on  through  the 
night.  On  the  bridge  all  is  quiet.  Officers 
move  to  and  fro  with  padded  footfalls,  and  the 
throb  of  the  great  engines  is  felt  rather  than 
heard.  The  wind  begins  to  change,  and  pres- 
ently the  captain  glancing  out  the  door  of  the 
chart-house  clucks  his  chagrin.  For  the  night 
has  begun  to  reveal  itself,  thanks,  or  rather,  no 
thanks,  to  the  moon,  which  has  torn  away  from 
a  shrouding  mass  of  clouds  and  sends  its  rays 
down  upon  the  waters  of  the  sea.  It  had  been 
a  fine  night  to  dodge  the  lurking  submarine, 
but  now  the  silver  light  of  the  moon,  falling 
upon  the  leaden  side  of  the  battleship,  converts 
her  into  a  fine  target. 

"Nature  is  certainly  good  to  the  Germans," 
chuckles  an  officer  to  a  companion,  taking  care 
that  the  captain  does  not  hear." 

"Yes,"  comes  the  sententious  reply.  The 
lookouts  grow  more  rigid,  for  whereas  formerly 


ON  WATCH  131) 

they  could  see  nothing,  objects  on  the  water  are 
now  pencilled  out  in  luminous  relief. 

Deep  down  below  the  water  there  is  a  listening 
"ear" — a  submarine  telephone  device  through 
which  a  submarine  betrays  its  presence;  any 
sound  the  undersea  boat  makes,  the  beating  of 
the  propellers,  for  instance,  is  heard  by  this 
ear,  and  in  turn  by  the  ear  of  the  man  who 
holds  the  receiver. 

Presently  the  man  who  is  on  detector  watch 
grows  tense.  He  listens  attentively  and  then 
stands  immobile  for  a  moment  or  so.  Then  he 
steps  to  a  telephone  and  a  bell  rings  in  the  chart- 
house  where  the  captain  and  his  navigating  and 
watch  officers  are  working  out  the  courses  and 
positions. 

"I  hear  a  submarine  signalling,  sir,"  comes 
the  voice  from  the  depths  to  the  captain  who 
stands  by  the  desk  with  the  receiver  at  his 
ear. 

"What  signal?"  barks  the  skipper. 

"'M  Q'  repeated  several  times.  Sounds  as  if 
one  boat  was  calling  another."  (The  sailor  re- 
ferred to  the  practice  which  submarines  have  of 
sending  subaqueous  signals  to  one  another, 


190  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

signals  which  are  frequently  caught  by  listen- 
ing war-ships  of  the  Allies.) 

The  captain  orders  the  detector  man  to  miss 
nothing,  and  then  a  general  alarm  (to  quarters) 
is  passed  through  the  great  vessel  by  word  of 
mouth.  This  is  no  time  for  the  clanging  of 
bells  and  the  like.  The  lookouts  are  advised  as 
to  the  situation. 

"I  hope  we're  not  steaming  into  a  nest." 
The  captain  frowns  and  picks  up  the  telephone. 
"Anything  more?"  he  asks. 

"Still  getting  signals,  sir;  same  as  before; 
same  direction  and  distance." 

Down  to  the  bridge  through  a  speaking-tube, 
running  from  the  top  of  the  forward  basket-mast 
comes  a  weird  voice. 

"Bright  light,  port  bow,  sir.  Distance  about 
4,000  yards."  (Pause.)  "  Light  growing  dim. 
Very  dim  now." 

From  other  lookouts  come  confirmatory  words. 

"Dim  light;  port  bow." 

"The  light  has  gone." 

"It's  a  sub,  of  course,"  murmurs  an  officer. 
"No  craft  but  a  submarine  would  carry  a  night 
light  on  her  periscope.  She  must  be  signalling." 


A  FALSE  ALARM  191 

A  thrill  goes  through  the  battleship.  In  a 
minute  the  big  steel  fighter  may  be  lying  on  her 
side,  stricken;  or  there  may  be  the  opportunity 
for  a  fair  fight. 

The  captain  sends  an  officer  below  to  the  de- 
tector and  changes  the  course  of  the  ship. 
Every  one  awaits  developments,  tensely. 

The  wireless  operator  enters  the  chart-house. 

"I  can't  get  your  message  to  the  [an- 
other battleship],  sir.  I  can't  raise  her.  Been 
trying  for  ten  minutes.'* 

The  officer  who  has  been  below  at  the  detector 
comes  up  and  hears  the  plight  of  the  wireless 
man.  He  smiles. 

"In  exactly  five  minutes,"  he  says,  "you 
signal  again."  The  radio  man  goes  to  his  room 
and  the  officer  descends  to  the  detector.  In 
precisely  five  minutes  he  hears  the  signal  which 
had  bothered  the  man  on  detector  watch.  He 
hurries  to  the  bridge  with  the  solution  of  the  in- 
cident. The  wireless  had  become  disconnected 
and  its  signals  had  come  in  contact  with  the 
detector.  So  there  was  no  submarine.  Every- 
thing serene.  The  battleship  settles  down  to 
her  night  routine. 


192  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

The  dark  wears  into  dawn,  and  the  early 
morning,  with  the  dusk,  is  the  favorite  hunting- 
time  of  the  submarine,  for  the  reason  that  then 
a  periscope,  while  seeing  clearly,  is  not  itself 
easily  to  be  discerned.  The  lookouts,  straining 
their  eyes  out  over  the  steely  surge,  pick  up 
what  appears  to  be  a  spar.  But  no.  The 
water  is  rushing  on  either  side  of  it  like  a  mill 
race.  A  periscope. 

There  is  a  hurry  of  feet  on  the  bridge.  The 
navigating  officer  seizes  the  engine-room  tele- 
graph and  signals  full  speed  ahead.  While  the 
ship  groans  and  lists  under  the  sudden  turn  at 
high  speed,  the  ammunition-hoists  drone  as  they 
bring  powder  and  shell  up  to  gun  and  turret. 
From  the  range-finding  and  plotting-stations 
come  orders  to  the  sight-setters,  and  in  an  in- 
stant there  is  a  stupendous  roar  as  every  gun 
on  the  port  side  sends  forth  its  steel  messenger. 

Again  and  again  comes  the  broadside,  while 
the  ocean  for  acres  about  the  periscope  boils 
with  the  steel  rain.  It  is  much  too  hot  for  the 
submarine  which  sinks  so  that  the  periscope 
is  invisible.  From  the  plotting-stations  come 
orders  for  a  change  of  range,  and  on  the  sea  a 


"TORPEDO  !"  193 

mile  or  so  away  rise  huge  geysers  which  pause 
for  a  moment,  glistening  in  ,the  light  of  the  new 
sun,  and  then  fall  in  spray  to  the  waves,  whence 
they  were  lifted  by  the  hurtling  projectiles.  The 
shells  do  not  ricochet.  "Where  they  hit  they 
dig,"  to  quote  a  navy  man.  This  is  one  of  the 
inventions  of  the  war,  the  non-ricochet  shell. 
One  may  easily  imagine  how  greatly  superior 
are  the  shells  that  dig  to  those  that  strike  the 
water  and  then  glance.  Then  comes  the  cry: 

"Torpedo!" 

All  see  it,  a  white  streak  upon  the  water,  cir- 
cling from  the  outer  rim  of  shell-fire  on  a  wide 
arc,  so  as  to  allow  for  the  speed  of  the  battle- 
ship. With  a  hiss  the  venomous  projectile 
dashes  past  the  bow,  perhaps  thirty  yards  away. 
Had  not  the  battleship  swung  about  on  a  new 
course  as  soon  as  the  vigilant  lookout  descried 
the  advancing  torpedo,  it  would  have  been  a 
fair  hit  amidships.  As  it  was,  the  explosive 
went  harmlessly  on  its  way  through  the  open 
sea.  A  short  cheer  from  the  crew  marks  the 
miss,  and  the  firing  increases  in  intensity. 
The  battleship  so  turns  that  her  bow  is  in  the 
direction  of  the  submarine,  presenting,  thus,  a 


194  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

mark  which  may  be  hit  only  through  a  lucky 
shot,  since  the  submarine  is  a  mile  away.  Ac- 
curate shooting  even  at  a  mile  is  expected  of 
torpedo-men  when  the  mark  is  a  broadside, 
but  hitting  a  " bow-on"  object  is  a  different 
matter. 

Two  more  torpedoes  zip  past,  and  then  over 
the  seas  comes  bounding  a  destroyer,  smoke 
bellying  from  her  funnels.  She  is  over  the 
probable  hiding-place  of  the  submarine,  and  a 
great  explosion  and  a  high  column  of  water  tell 
those  on  the  battleship  that  she  has  released  a 
depth-bomb.  Suddenly  a  signal  flutters  to  the 
stay  of  the  destroyer.  The  crew  of  the  battle- 
ship cheer.  There  is  no  more  to  fear  from  that 
submarine,  for  oil  is  slowly  spreading  itself  over 
the  surface  of  the  ocean — oil  and  pieces  of 
wreckage. 

The  dawn  establishes  itself  fully.  The  battle- 
ship resumes  her  course  toward  the  appointed 
rendezvous. 

Our  navy  has  always  held  the  idea  that  the 
Germans  could  be  routed  out  from  their  sub- 
marine bases,  has  believed  that,  after  all,  that  is 
the  one  sure  way  of  ridding  the  seas  of  the 


THE  TORPEDO   QUESTION  195 

Kaiser's  pirates  for  good.  It  may  be  assumed 
that  the  recent  attacks  of  the  British  upon  Os- 
tend  and  Zeebrugge,  as  a  cover  to  blocking  the 
canal  entrances  through  sinking  old  war-ships, 
were  highly  approved  by  Vice-Admiral  Sims. 
Secretary  Daniels  has  considered  the  advisa- 
bility of  direct  methods  in  dealing  with  the 
German  Navy.  No  doubt  the  temptation  has 
been  great,  if  only  because  of  the  fact  that  with 
the  British  and  American  and  French  navies 
combined,  we  have  a  force  which  could  stand 
an  appreciable  amount  of  destruction  and  yet 
be  in  a  position  to  cope  with  the  German  fleet. 
Yet,  of  course,  that  is  taking  chances.  And: 

"It  is  all  very  well  to  say  'damn  the  tor- 
pedoes,'" said  Secretary  Daniels,  in  discussing 
this  point,  "but  a  navy  cannot  invite  annihila- 
tion by  going  into  mined  harbors,  and  ships  can 
do  little  or  nothing  against  coast  fortifications 
equipped  with  14-inch  guns.  Experience  at 
Gallipoli  emphasizes  this  fact.  And  yet" — 
here  the  secretary  became  cryptic — "there  is 
more  than  one  way  to  kill  a  cat.  No  place  is 
impregnable.  Nothing  is  impossible." 

The  British  showed  how  damage  might  be 


196  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

dealt  naval  bases  supposedly  secure  under  the 
guns  of  fortifications,  but  something  more  than 
a  sally  will  be  necessary  to  smoke  out  the  Ger- 
man fleet,  or  to  root  out  the  nests  of  submarines 
along  the  coast  of  Belgium.  Again,  there  is  the 
theory  that  eventually  the  Germans  will  come 
out  and  give  battle.  There  is  a  psychological 
backing  for  this  assumption,  for  the  irksomeness 
of  being  penned  up  wears  and  wears  until  it  is 
not  to  be  borne.  At  least  this  seems  to  have 
been  the  case  in  blockades  in  past  wars,  notably 
the  dash  of  Admiral  Cervera's  squadron  from 
Santiago  Harbor. 

But  when  the  Germans  come  it  will  be  no 
such  forlorn  hope  as  that — at  least  not  accord- 
ing to  the  German  expectation;  what  they  ex- 
pect, however,  and  what  they  may  get  are  con- 
tingencies lying  wide  apart. 

In  connection  with  our  far-flung  naval  policy 
the  establishment  of  a  naval  base  on  the  Azores 
Islands  was  announced  last  spring.  The  ar- 
rangement was  made  with  the  full  consent  of 

o 

Portugal,  and  the  design  was  the  protection  of 
the  Atlantic  trade  routes  to  southern  Europe. 
Guns  have  already  been  landed  on  the  island. 


THE  AZORES  STATION  197 

and  fortifications  are  now  in  process  of  construc- 
tion. The  station,  besides  being  used  as  a 
naval  base  for  American  submarines,  destroyers, 
and  other  small  craft,  will  serve  as  an  important 
homing-station  for  our  airplanes,  a  number  of 
which  have  already  been  assembled  there. 

The  establishment  of  this  station  greatly 
simplifies  the  task  of  protecting  the  great  trade 
routes,  not  only  to  southern  Europe  and  the 
Mediterranean,  but  also  returning  traffic  to 
South  American  and  southern  Gulf  ports  in  the 
United  States. 


CHAPTER  X 

FHE    GREAT    ATLANTIC    FERRY    COMPANY,    INCORPORATED, 

BUT  UNLIMITED FEAT  OF  THE  NAVY  IN  REPAIRING  THE 

STEAMSHIPS  BELONGING  TO  GERMAN  LINES  WHICH  WERE 

INTERNED    AT    BEGINNING    OF    WAR    IN    1914 WELDING 

AND     PATCHING TRIUMPH     OF     OUR     NAVY     WITH     THE 

"VATERLAND" — HER  CONDITION — KNOTS  ADDED  TO  HER 
SPEED — DAMAGE  TO  MOTIVE  POWER  AND  HOW  FT  WAS 
REMEDIED FAMOUS  GERMAN  LINERS  BROUGHT  UNDER 

OUR  FLAG 

IN  an  address  delivered  not  long  ago,  Admiral 
Cleaves,  commander-in-chief  of  the  United 
States  Cruiser  and  Transport  Force,  referred 
to  "The  Great  Atlantic  Ferry  Company,  In- 
corporated, but  Unlimited."  He  referred  to 
our  transport  fleet,  of  course,  a  fleet  which, 
under  naval  supervision  and  naval  operation, 
has  safely  transported  more  than  a  million  of 
our  soldiers  to  France.  When  the  history  of 
the  war  finally  comes  to  be  written,  our  success 
in  the  handling  of  oversea  transportation  will 
not  be  the  least  bright  among  the  pages  of  that 
absorbing  history. 

When  the  European  nations  first  went  to  war 
in  1914  I  happened  to  be  at  the  Newport  Naval 

198 


AMERICAN  SHIPS  199 

Training  Station,  and  I  asked  an  officer  what 
would  happen  if  we  went  into  the  war. 

"Not  much,"  he  said.  "We  would  stand  on 
our  shores  and  the  Germans  on  theirs  and 
make  faces  at  each  other." 

Events  have  proved  that  he  was  not  looking 
into  the  future  wisely,  not  taking  into  account 
the  enormous  energy  and  get-things-doneness 
of  Secretary  Daniels  and  his  coadjutors.  Not 
only  did  the  Navy  Department  send  our  de- 
stroyer fleet  to  the  war  zone — the  Allied  officers, 
believing  co-operation  of  the  sort  not  feasible, 
had  neither  requested  nor  expected  this — but 
performed  many  other  extraordinary  feats, 
among  them  the  equipping  of  transports  to 
carry  our  men  to  France,  and  the  conduct  of  the 
service  when  they  were  ready. 

We  had  only  a  fair  number  of  American  steam- 
ships adapted  for  the  purpose,  but  lying  in  our 
ports  were  interned  German  and  Austrian  ves- 
sels aggregating  many  hundreds  of  thousands 
of  tons.  From  1914  until  we  entered  the  war 
commuters  on  North  River  ferry-boats  seemed 
never  weary  of  gazing  at  the  steamships  lying 
in  the  great  North  German  Lloyd  and  Hamburg- 


£00  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

American  line  piers  in  Hoboken.  There  was  a 
small  forest  of  masts  and  funnels  appearing 
above  the  pier  sheds,  while  many  a  graceful 
stern  protruded  out  beyond  the  pier  lines  into 
the  river. 

Among  them  was  the  great  Vaterland,  the 
largest  vessel  in  the  world,  and  the  outward  and 
visible  expression  of  that  peaceful  maritime 
rivalry  between  Great  Britain  and  the  German 
Empire,  which  in  the  transatlantic  lanes  as  in 
the  waters  of  all  the  seven  seas  had  interested 
followers  of  shipping  for  so  many  years.  There 
was,  so  far  as  passenger  traffic  was  concerned, 
the  rivalry  for  the  blue  ribbon  of  the  sea — the 
swiftest  ocean  carrier,  a  fight  that  was  waged 
between  Great  Britain  and  Germany  from  the 
placid  eighties  to  the  nineties,  when  the  Ger- 
mans brought  out  the  Deutschland,  and  later 
the  Kaiser  Wilhelm  der  Grosse,  the  Kaiser  Wil- 
helm  II — all  champions — whose  laurels  were  to 
be  snatched  away  by  the  Mauretania  and  the 
Lusitania — the  two  speed  queens — when  war 
ended  competition  of  the  sort. 

But  the  contest  in  speed  had,  to  an  extent, 
been  superseded  by  the  rivalry  of  size,  a  struggle 


OCEAN  LINERS  201 

begun  by  the  White  Star  Line  when  the  great 
Oceanic  slipped  past  quarantine  in  the  early 
1900's,  and  carried  on  by  that  line,  by  the 
Atlantic  Transport  Line,  and  by  the  German 
companies  with  unceasing  vigor.  Great  carry- 
ing capacity  and  fair  speed  were  the  desiderata, 
and  the  studious  Germans  were  quick  to  see 
that  it  was  a  far  more  profitable  battle  to  wage, 
since  speed  meant  merely  advertising,  with  a 
more  or  less  slight  preponderance  in  the  flow  of 
passenger  patronage  to  the  line  which  owned 
the  latest  crack  greyhound,  whereas  size  meant 
ability  to  carry  greater  cargoes,  and  thus  en- 
hanced earning  capacity. 

So  great  hulls  were  the  order  of  the  years  pre- 
ceding 1914.  There  came  the  new  Baltic,  the 
new  Cymric,  the  new  Adriatic  of  the  White  Star 
Line,  and  for  the  Germans  there  came  the 
Amerika  and  other  craft  of  that  type.  Finally 
there  was  the  Titanic  and  her  ill-fated  maiden 
voyage;  the  Cunarder  Aquitania,  and  the 
Vaterland,  and  the  Imperator,  which  bore  the 
German  ensign.  These  facts,  presented  not 
altogether  in  chronological  order,  are  necessary 
to  give  the  reader  an  idea  of  the  manner  in 


202  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

which  the  Americans  were  taking  back  seats 
in  the  unceasing  fight  for  commercial  maritime 
supremacy.  It  is  quite  likely,  so  far  back  was 
our  seat,  that  the  Germans  held  little  respect 
for  our  ability,  either  to  man  or  to  fit  the  im- 
mense number  of  German  vessels  in  our  harbors. 
In  truth,  the  events  that  followed  our  entrance 
into  the  war  showed  just  how  supreme  the  con- 
tempt of  the  Germans  was  for  our  knowledge 
of  things  nautical. 

We  are  about  to  record  just  how  erroneous 
that  attitude  of  the  Germans  was,  but  wish 
first  to  point  out  that  they  had  failed  to  take 
into  consideration  the  fact  that  at  Annapolis  is 
situated  a  school  of  the  sea  that  asks  nothing 
of  any  similar  school  in  the  world,  and  that 
they  had  also  failed  to  note  that,  while  we  had 
not  gone  in  heavily  for  shipping,  we  have  been 
rather  effective  in  other  lines  which  in  event  of 
emergency  might  be  brought  to  bear  upon  the 
problem  of  correcting  such  deficiencies  as  might 
exist  in  our  store  of  modern  nautical  tradition. 

Well,  while  the  German  waged  their  unre- 
stricted warfare  on  the  sea,  those  German  ves- 
sels lay  at  Hoboken  and  at  other  ports  of  the 


GERMAN  VESSELS  203 

country,  gathering  the  rust  and  barnacles  of 
disuse.  Then  one  day  Congress  spoke  defi- 
nitely, and  the  next  morning  North  River  ferry 
voyagers  saw  lying  off  the  German  docks  a 
torpedo-boat  destroyer  flying  the  American 
flag.  Some  days  later  the  American  flag  floated 
over  the  taffrails  of  the  Vaterland,  the  Kaiser 
Wilhelm  77,  and  other  Teutonic  craft.  Their 
employment  in  the  way  of  providing  transporta- 
tion of  our  soldiers,  of  course,  was  contemplated. 
In  fact,  the  accession  to  our  marine  of  such  a 
large  number  of  hulls  seemed  to  provide  for  us 
all  the  necessary  means  which  otherwise  we 
would  have  lacked. 

But  not  so  fast.  When  our  officers  began  to 
look  over  these  German  craft  they  found  that 
they  were  in  a  woful  condition,  not  so  much 
because  of  disuse  as  because  of  direct  damage 
done  to  them  by  the  German  crews  who  had 
been  attached  to  the  ships  ever  since  they  were 
laid  up  in  1914.  There  is  evidence  in  Wash- 
ington that  the  German  central  authorities 
issued  an  order  for  the  destruction  of  these 
ships  which  was  to  be  effective  on  or  about 
February  1,  1917 — simultaneous,  in  other  words, 


204  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

with  the  date  set  for  unrestricted  warfare. 
There  is  not  the  slightest  doubt  that  the  pur- 
pose of  the  order  was  to  cause  to  be  inflicted 
damage  so  serious  to  vital  parts  of  the  ma- 
chinery of  all  German  vessels  in  our  ports,  that 
no  ship  could  be  operated  within  a  period  of 
time  ranging  from  eight  months  to  two  years, 
if  at  all. 

But  the  Germans  miscalculated,  as  already 
set  forth.  We  took  over  the  109  German  ves- 
sels in  April,  and  by  December  30  of  that  year, 
1917,  all  damage  done  to  them  had  been  re- 
paired and  were  in  service,  adding  more  than 
500,000  tons  gross  to  our  transport  and  cargo 
fleets.  In  general  the  destructive  work  of  the 
German  crews  consisted  of  ruin  which  they  hoped 
and  believed  would  necessitate  the  shipping  of 
new  machinery  to  substitute  for  that  which  was 
battered  down  or  damaged  by  drilling  or  by  dis- 
mantlement. 

To  have  obtained  new  machinery,  as  a  matter 
of  fact,  would  have  entailed  a  mighty  long  proc- 
ess. First,  new  machinery  would  have  had  to 
be  designed,  then  made,  and  finally  installed. 
These  would  have  been  all  right  if  time  was  un- 


EXPERTS  CONVENE  205 

limited.  But  it  was  not;  it  was,  on  the  other 
hand,  extremely  limited.  The  army  wished  to 
send  troops  abroad,  the  Allies  were  pleading  for 
men,  and  the  only  way  to  get  them  over  in  time 
to  do  anything  was  to  do  quick  repair  jobs  on 
the  damaged  vessels.  But  how?  Investiga- 
tion revealed  how  thorough  the  work  of  the 
German  seamen — now  enjoying  themselves  in 
internment  camps — had  been.  Their  destruc- 
tive campaign  had  been  under  headway  for  two 
months,  and  they  had  thus  plenty  of  time  in 
which  to  do  all  sorts  of  harm,  ranging  from  the 
plugging  of  steam-pipes  to  the  demolition  of 
boilers  by  dry  firing. 

The  Shipping  Board  experts  were  the  first  to 
go  over  the  German  craft,  and  as  a  result  of 
their  survey  it  was  announced  that  a  great  deal 
of  new  machinery  would  have  to  be  provided, 
and  that  a  fair  estimate  of  the  work  of  remedy- 
ing the  damage  inflicted  would  be  eighteen 
months.  But  this  was  too  long,  altogether  so. 
The  officers  of  the  Navy  Bureau  of  Steam  En- 
gineering took  a  hand,  and  finally  decided  that 
it  would  be  possible  to  clear  the  ships  for  ser- 
vice by  Christmas  of  that  year.  (As  a  matter 


206  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

of  record,  the  last  of  the  109  ships  was  ordered 
into  service  on  Thanksgiving  Day.) 

To  accomplish  the  purposes  they  had  in  mind, 
the  Navy  Department  engaged  the  services  of 
all  available  machinery  welders  and  patchers, 
many  of  whom  were  voluntarily  offered  by  the 
great  railroad  companies.  Most  of  the  time  that 
was  required  was  due  not  so  much  to  actual  re- 
pair work  as  to  the  devious  and  tedious  task  of 
dismantling  all  machinery  from  bow  to  stern 
of  every  ship  in  order  to  make  certain  that  every 
bit  of  damage  was  discovered  and  repaired. 
In  this  way  all  chance  of  overlooking  some  act 
of  concealed  mutilation  was  obviated. 

It  would  appear  that  explosives  were  not 
used  in  the  process  of  demolition  by  the  Ger- 
mans, but  at  the  time  the  engineers  could  not 
be  sure  of  this,  and  as  a  consequence  as  they 
worked  they  were  conscious  of  the  danger  of 
hidden  charges  which  might  become  operative 
when  the  machinery  was  put  to  the  test,  or 
even  while  the  work  of  dismantling  and  inspec- 
tion was  being  carried  on.  There  were,  however, 
discovered,  as  a  result  of  this  rigid  investigation 
of  every  mechanical  detail,  many  artful  cases 


From  a  photograph  copyright  by  International  Film  Service. 
Repairing  a  damaged  cylinder  of  a  German  ship  for  federal  service. 


GERMAN  TRICKS  207 

of  pipe-plugging,  of  steel  nuts  and  bolts  con- 
cealed in  delicate  mechanical  parts,  of  ground 
glass  in  oil-pipes  and  bearings,  of  indicators  that 
were  so  adjusted  as  to  give  inaccurate  readings, 
of  fire-  extinguishers  filled  with  gasolene — in  fact, 
the  manifold  deceits  which  the  Germans  prac- 
tised would  make  a  chapter  of  themselves. 

Suffice  to  say,  that  through  painstaking  in- 
vestigation every  trick  was  discovered  and  cor- 
rected. On  each  vessel  there  was  no  boiler 
that  was  not  threaded  through  every  pipe  for 
evidence  of  plugging,  no  mechanism  of  any 
sort  that  was  not  completely  dismantled,  in- 
spected, and  reassembled.  On  one  ship  the 
engineers  chanced  to  find  a  written  record  of 
the  damage  inflicted.  In  every  other  case  the 
search  for  evidence  of  sabotage  was  blind. 
This  memorandum  in  the  case  of  the  one  ship 
was  evidently  left  on  board  through  an  over- 
sight, and  written  in  German,  was  a  veritable 
guide-book  for  our  engineers.  In  order  that  the 
reader  may  have  some  idea  of  the  sort  of  dam- 
age done,  the  following  extracts  from  that 
memorandum  of  destructiveness  is  herewith 
presented : 


208  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

"Starboard  and  port  high  pressure  cylinders 
with  valve  chest;  upper  exhaust  outlet  flange 
broken  off.  (Cannot  be  repaired.) " 

"Starboard  and  port  second  intermediate 
valve  chest;  steam  inlet  flange  broken  off. 
(Cannot  be  repaired.) " 

"First  intermediate  pressure  starboard  ex- 
haust pipes  of  exhaust  line  to  second  intermedi- 
ate pressure  flange  broken  off.  (Cannot  be  re- 
paired.) " 

"Starboard  and  port  low  pressure  exhaust  pipe 
damaged.  (Cannot  be  repaired.)  " 

Naval  officers  are  pleased  to  recall  that  every 
single  one  of  these  supposedly  irreparable  in- 
juries was  not  only  repaired,  but  speedily  re- 
paired. Patching  and  welding  were  the  answer 
to  the  problem  they  presented.  Both  these 
valuable  methods  had  never  been  employed  in 
marine  engineering,  although  they  had  been 
used  by  the  railroads  for  some  fifteen  years. 
There  are  three  methods;  or,  rather,  three 
methods  were  employed:  electric  welding,  oxy- 
acetylene  welding,  and  ordinary  mechanical 
patching.  After  repairs  were  effected  tests  of 
the  machinery  were  first  made  at  the  docks 


THE  LEVIATHAN  209 

with  the  ships  lashed  to  the  piers,  the  propellers 
being  driven  at  low  speed.  Later  each  vessel 
was  taken  to  sea  for  vigorous  trial  tests,  and 
everything  was  found  to  be  perfectly  satisfac- 
tory. Indeed,  it  has  been  asserted  that  several 
knots  were  added  to  the  best  speed  that  the 
Vaterland — renamed  Leviathan — ever  made. 

Of  course  the  crew  of  the  Vaterland  had  spared 
no  pains  in  fixing  that  great  ship  so  that  she 
could  not  be  used;  even  so  they  had  less  to  do 
than  the  engine  forces  of  other  craft,  for  the 
reason  that  the  vessel  was  in  extremely  bad  re- 
pair as  she  was.  As  a  consequence,  she  was 
one  of  the  German  ships  that  were  least  muti- 
lated. When  repairs  were  completed  and  it 
was  time  for  her  trial  trip,  her  commander,  a 
young  American  naval  officer,  was  ordered  to 
test  the  big  craft  in  every  way,  to  utilize  every 
pound  of  steam  pressure,  and  to  try  her  out  to 
the  limit.  For,  if  there  was  anything  wrong 
with  the  vessel,  the  navy  wished  to  know  it 
before  she  fared  forth  with  troops  on  board. 

The  Leviathan  stood  the  test.  And  to-day 
we  all  know  what  a  great  part  she  has  played  in 
carrying  our  soldiers  to  France.  She  is,  in  fact, 


210  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

a  far  better  boat  than  on  her  maiden  trip,  for 
our  engineers  were  surprised  to  find  how  sloppily 
she  had  been  built  in  certain  respects. 

In  preparing  her  for  sea  the  engineers  found 
it  necessary  to  overhaul,  partially  redesign  and 
reconstruct  many  important  parts  of  the  Levia- 
than's engines.  As  in  her  case,  the  most  serious 
typical  damage  was  done  by  breaking  the  cylin- 
ders, valve-chests,  circulating  pumps,  steam  and 
exhaust  units  in  main  engines;  dry -firing  boil- 
ers, and  thus  melting  the  tubes  and  distorting 
furnaces,  together  with  easily  detectable  in- 
stances of  a  minor  character,  such  as  cutting 
piston  and  connecting  rods  and  stays  with 
hack  saws,  smashing  engine-room  telegraph 
systems,  and  removing  and  destroying  parts 
which  the  Germans  believed  could  not  be  dupli- 
cated. Then  there  was  sabotage  well  concealed : 
rod  stays  in  boilers  were  broken  off,  but  nuts 
were  fastened  on  exposed  surfaces  for  purposes 
of  deception;  threads  of  bolts  were  destroyed, 
the  bolts  being  replaced  with  but  one  or  two 
threads  to  hold  them,  and  thus  calculated  to 
give  way  under  pressure.  Piles  of  shavings  and 
inflammable  material  with  cans  of  kerosene 


RAILROAD  MEN  CALLED  211 

near  suggested  the  intention  to  burn  the  vessels, 
intentions  thwarted  by  our  watchfulness,  while 
the  absence  of  explosives  has  been  accounted 
for  purely  on  the  ground  of  the  risk  which  the 
crews  would  have  run  in  attempting  to  purchase 
explosive  materials  in  the  open  market. 

No  great  amount  of  damage  was  done  to  the 
furnishings  or  ordinary  ship's  fittings.  De- 
structiveness  was  similar  in  character  through- 
out all  the  vessels  and  involved  only  important 
parts  of  the  propulsive  mechanism  or  other 
operating  machinery. 

We  have  spoken  of  the  investigation  of  the 
vessels  by  Shipping  Board  engineers.  They 
were  appointed  by  the  board  not  only  to  make 
a  survey,  but  to  superintend  repairs.  The  col- 
lector of  the  port  of  New  York  also  named  a 
board  of  engineers  (railroad  engineers)  to  in- 
vestigate the  damage  done  the  German  ships, 
and  to  recommend  repairs  through  the  agency 
of  welding.  The  railroad  men,  after  due  study, 
believed  that  their  art  could  be  applied  to  as 
great  advantage  on  ships  as  upon  locomotives. 
The  Shipping  Board  engineers  recommended, 
on  the  other  hand,  the  renewal  of  all  badly 


212  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

damaged  cylinders.  The  railroad  engineers,  on 
the  other  hand,  set  forth  their  opinion  that  aH 
damaged  cylinders  could  be  reclaimed  and  made 
as  good  as  new. 

As  a  result  of  this  difference  of  opinion,  noth- 
ing was  done  until  the  larger  German  craft  were 
turned  over  to  the  Navy  Department  to  be 
fitted  as  transports,  in  July  of  1917.  It  was 
then  decided  to  use  welding  and  patching  on 
the  vessels. 

In  no  cases  were  the  repairs  to  the  propulsive 
machinery  delayed  beyond  the  time  necessary 
to  equip  these  ships  as  transports.  Electric  and 
acetylene  welding  is  not  a  complicated  art  in 
the  hands  of  skilled  men;  for  patching  a  hole, 
or  filling  the  cavity  of  a  great  crack  in  a  cylinder, 
say  by  electric  welding,  may  be  compared  to  a 
similar  operation  in  dental  surgery. 

Returning  to  the  Leviathan's  faulty  German 
construction,  be  it  said  that  the  opinion  of  the 
navy  engineers  who  overhauled  her,  was  that 
inferior  engineering  had  been  practised  in  her 
construction.  There  are  on  this  craft  four 
turbine  engines  ahead,  and  four  astern,  on  four 
shafts.  All  the  head  engines  were  in  good 


THE   VATERLAND  213 

shape,  but  all  the  astern  engines  were  damaged- 
But  the  main  part  of  the  damage  had  resulted 
more  to  faulty  operation  of  the  engines  than  to 
malicious  damage.  Cracks  were  found  in  the 
casing  of  the  starboard  high-pressure  backing 
turbine,  cracks  of  size  so  great  as  to  make  it 
certain  that  this  engine  had  not  been  used  in 
the  last  run  of  that  vessel  on  transatlantic  ser- 
vice in  1914.  There  was  discovered  on  the 
Vaterland,  or  Leviathan,  documentary  evidence 
to  prove  this,  and  it  also  appeared  from  this 
paper  that  on  her  last  trip  to  this  country  the 
vessel  had  not  averaged  twenty  knots.  It  may 
be  that  the  German  ship-builders  had  hurried 
too  swiftly  in  their  strenuous  efforts  to  produce 
a  bigger,  if  not  a  better,  steamship  than  the 
British  could  turn  out. 

Forty-six  of  the  Vaterland's  boilers  showed 
evidence  of  poor  handling.  They  were  not 
fitted  with  the  proper  sort  of  internal  feed- 
pipes. All  these  defects,  defects  original  with 
the  steamship,  were  repaired  by  the  Americans. 
In  addition,  evidences  of  minor  attempts  to  dis- 
able the  Vaterland  were  found,  such,  for  instance, 
as  holes  bored  in  sections  of  suction-pipes,  the 


214  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

holes  having  been  puttied  and  thus  concealed. 
Things  of  the  sort  afforded  ample  reason  for  a 
thorough  overhaul  of  the  vast  mass  of  machinery 
aboard  the  steamship.  But  eventually  she  was 
ready  for  her  test  and  her  performance  on  a  trial 
trip  to  southern  waters  showed  how  skilful  had 
been  ike  remedial  measures  applied. 

Aboard  the  Leviathan  as  other  big  German 
h'ners,  such  as  the  Amerika,  President  Grant, 
President  Lincoln  (recently  sunk  by  a  German 
torpedo  while  bound  for  this  country  from 
France),  the  George  Washington,  and  other  ves- 
sels fitted  as  troop  and  hospital  ships,  and  the 
like,  naval  crews  were  placed,  and  naval  offi- 
cers, of  course,  in  command.  They  have  proved 
their  mettle,  all.  They  have  shown,  further, 
that  when  we  get  ready  to  take  our  place,  after 
the  war,  among  the  nations  that  go  in  heavily 
for  things  maritime,  we  shall  not  be  among  the 
last,  either  in  point  of  resourcefulness  or  in- 
trepidity. 

Civilian  sailormen  who  have  sailed  on  vessels 
commanded  by  naval  officers  have  been  inclined 
to  smile  over  the  minutia  of  navy  discipline 
and  have  expressed  doubt  whether  the  naval 


HANDLING  THE  LEVIATHAN  215 

men  would  find  a  certain  rigidity  any  more 
useful  in  a  given  situation  than  the  civilian  sea- 
men would  find  a  looser  ordered  system.  We 
can  but  base  judgment  on  facts,  and  among  the 
facts  that  have  come  under  the  writer's  observa- 
tion, was  the  difficulty  which  the  German  officers 
of  the  Vaierland  encountered  in  taking  their 
vessel  into  her  dock  in  the  North  River.  The 
very  last  time  they  attempted  it  the  great  hulk 
got  crosswise  in  the  current  in  the  middle  of  the 
stream,  and  caused  all  sorts  of  trouble. 

Our  naval  officers,  however,  made  no  difficulty 
at  all  in  snapping  the  steamship  into  her  pier. 
She  steams  up  the  Hudson  on  the  New  York 
side,  makes  a  big  turn,  and  lo !  she  is  safely 
alongside  her  pier.  Any  seafaring  man  will  tell 
you  that  this  implies  seamanly  ability. 

Following  is  a  list  of  the  larger  German  ships 
which  were  repaired  by  the  navy  engineers, 
with  the  names  under  which  they  now  sail: 

FORMER   NAME  PRESENT   NAME 

Amerika Amerioa. 

Andromeda Bath. 

Barbarossa Mercury. 

Breslau Bridgeport. 


216  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

FOBMER   NAME  PRESENT   NAME 

Cincinnati Covington*  (sunk). 

Frieda  Lenhardt Astoria. 

Friedrich  der  Grossc Huron. 

Geier Schurz. 

George  Washington name  retained. 

Grosser  Kurfurst Aeolus. 

Gruneicald Gen.  G.  W.  Goethals. 

Hamburg Powhattan. 

Hermes name  retained. 

Hohenfelde Long  Beach. 

Kiel Camden. 

Kaiser  WUhelm  II Agamemnon. 

Koenig  WUhelm  II Madaicaska. 

Kronprinz  WUhelm Von  Steuben. 

Kronprezessin  Cecelie Mount  Vernon. 

Liebenfels Hoiston. 

Locksun Gulf  port. 

Neckar Antigone. 

Nicaria Pensacola. 

Odenwald Newport  News. 

President Kuttery. 

President  Grant name  retained. 

President  Lincoln name  retained  (sunk). 

Prinzess  Irene Pocahontas. 

Prinz  Eitd  Friedrich DeKalb. 

Rhein Susquehanna. 

Rudolph  Blumberg Beaufort. 

Saxonia Savannah. 

Staatsskretar Samoa. 

Vaterland Leviathan. 

Vogensen Quincy. 

*  Is  not  this  rather  a  reflection  upon  a  perfectly  good  American  city? 


CHAPTER  XI 

CAMOUFLAGE — AMERICAN  SYSTEM  OF  LOW  VISIBILITY  AND 
THE  BRITISH  DAZZLE  SYSTEM — AMERICANS  WORKED  OUT 

PRINCIPLES  OF  COLOR  IN  LIGHT  AND  COLOR  IN  PIGMENT 

BRITISH  SOUGHT  MERELY  TO  CONFUSE  THE  EYE — BRITISH 
SYSTEM  APPLIED  TO  SOME  OF  OUR  TRANSPORTS 

TTTHILE  our  naval  vessels,  that  is  to  say 
*  *  war-ships,  have  adhered  to  the  lead- 
gray  war  paint,  the  Navy  Department  has  not 
declined  to  follow  the  lead  of  the  merchant 
marine  of  this  country  and  Great  Britain  in 
applying  the  art  of  camouflage  to  some  of  its 
transports,  notably  to  the  Leviathan.,  which, 
painted  by  an  English  camoufleur,  Wilkinson, 
fairly  revels  in  color  designed  to  confuse  the 
eyes  of  those  who  would  attack  her.  A  great 
deal  has  been  written  about  land  camouflage,  but 
not  so  much  about  the  same  art  as  practised  on 
ships.  Originally,  the  purpose  was  the  same — 
concealment  and  general  low  visibility  — at  least 
it  was  so  far  as  the  Americans  were  concerned. 
The  British,  on  the  other  hand,  employed  camou- 
flage with  a  view  to  distorting  objects  and  fa- 

217 


218  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

tiguing  the  eye,  thus  seriously  affecting  range- 
finding.  The  British  system  was  known  as  the 
"dazzle  system,"  and  was  opposed  to  the  Ameri- 
can idea  of  so  painting  a  vessel  as  to  cause  it 
to  merge  into  its  background. 

The  American  camouflage  is  based  on  scien- 
tific principles  which  embody  so  much  in  the 
way  of  chromatic  paradox  as  to  warrant  setting 
forth  rather  fully,  even  though  at  the  present 
tH»«,  for  good  and  sufficient  reasons  relating  to 
German  methods  of  locating  vessels,  the  Ameri- 
cans have  more  or  leas  abandoned  their  ideas 
of  low  visibility  and  taken  up  with  the  dazzle 
idea. 

A  mural  painter  of  New  York,  William  An- 
drew Mackay,  who  had  long  experimented  in 
the  chemistry  of  color  (he  is  now  a  member  of 
the  staff  of  navy  camoufleurs),  had  appfied  a 
process  of  low  visibility  to  naval  vessels  long 
before  war  broke  out  in  Europe,  The  basis  of 
his  theory  of  camouflage  was  that  red,  green, 
and  violet,  in  term*  of  light,  make  gray;  they 
don't  in  pigment. 

The  Mackay  scheme  of  invisibility  will  be 
easily  grasped  by  the  reader  if  we  take  the  ex- 


RED,  GREEN,  AND  VIOLET  219 

ample  of  the  rainbow.  The  phenomenon  of  the 
rainbow,  then,  teaches  us  that  what  we  know 
to  be  white  light,  or  daylight,  is  composed  of 
rays  of  various  colors.  If  an  object,  say  the 
hull  of  a  vessel  at  sea,  prevents  these  rays  from 
coming  to  the  eye,  that  hull,  or  other  object,  is 
of  course  clearly  defined,  the  reason  being  that 
the  iron  mass  shuts  out  the  light-rays  behind  it. 
Mr.  Mackay  discovered  that  by  applying  to  the 
sides  of  a  ship  paint  representing  the  three 
light-rays  shut  out  by  the  vessel's  hull — red, 
green,  and  violet — the  hull  is  less  visible  than 
a  similar  body  painted  in  solid  color. 

In  a  series  of  experiments  made  under  the 
supervision  of  the  Navy  Department  after  we 
entered  the  war  an  oil-tanker  ship  was  so  suc- 
cessfully painted  in  imitation  of  the  color-rays 
of  light  that,  at  three  miles,  the  tanker  seemed 
to  melt  into  the  horizon.  The  effect  was  noted 
in  the  morning,  at  noon,  and  in  the  erecting. 
In  the  case  of  various  big  liners,  more  than  500 
feet  long,  no  accurate  range  could  be  made  for 
shelling  at  from  three  to  five  miles — the  usual 
shelling  distance — while  at  eight  miles  the  vessels 
melted  into  the  ocean-mists. 


220  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

But  the  first  trials  of  the  system  were  con- 
ducted at  Newport,  in  1913,  in  conjunction  with 
Lieutenant  Kenneth  Whiting,  of  the  submarine 
flotilla.  After  a  period  experiments  were  con- 
tinued at  the  Brooklyn  Navy  Yard.  In  1915 
Commander  J.  O.  Fisher,  U.  S.  N.,  painted  the 
periscope  of  his  submarine — the  K-6 — with  the 
colors  of  the  spectrum.  Mr.  Mackay  got  in 
touch  with  this  officer  and  explained  the  work 
he  had  done  with  Lieutenant  Whiting.  Fisher, 
deeply  interested,  invited  the  painter  to  deliver 
a  series  of  lectures  to  the  officers  of  the  submarine 
flotilla  at  the  Brooklyn  Navy  Yard. 

With  the  aid  of  a  Maxwell  disk — a  wheel 
upon  which  colored  cardboard  is  placed  and 
then  revolved — he  demonstrated  the  difference 
between  paint  and  light,  as  set  forth  in  a  book 
on  the  chemistry  of  color  by  the  late  Ogden  N. 
Rood,  of  Columbia.  He  showed,  for  example, 
that  yellow  and  blue  in  light  make  white,  while 
yellow  and  blue  in  pigment  make  green.  The 
bird  colored  blue  and  yellow  will  be  a  dull  gray 
at  a  distance  of  100  feet,  and  will  blend  perfectly 
against  the  dull  gray  of  a  tree- trunk  at,  perhaps, 
a  less  distance.  The  parrot  of  red,  green,  and 


LOW  VISIBILITY 

violet  plumage  turns  gray  at  100  feet  or  more, 
the  eye  at  that  distance  losing  the  ability  to 
separate  the  three  color-sensations. 

It  is  upon  this  principle,  then,  that  ships 
painted  in  several  varieties  of  tints  and  shades 
form  combinations  under  different  lights  that 
cause  them  to  waver  and  melt  into  the  sea  and 
sky.  They  seem  to  melt,  to  be  more  explicit, 
because  the  craft  so  painted  is  surrounded  by 
tints  and  shades  that  are  similar  to  those  em- 
ployed in  painting  the  craft. 

Vessels  thus  painted,  as  seen  at  their  docks, 
present  a  curious  aspect.  At  their  water-lines, 
and  running  upward  for  perhaps  twenty  feet, 
are  green  wave-lines,  and  above,  a  dappled  ef- 
fect of  red,  green,  and  violet,  which  involve 
not  only  the  upper  portions  of  the  hull,  but 
the  life-boats,  masts,  and  funnels. 

This,  then,  as  said,  was  the  American  idea  as 
first  applied  by  Mr.  Mackay,  and  which  would 
have  been  greatly  amplified  had  not  listening 
devices  been  so  perfected  as  to  render  it  un- 
necessary for  the  Germans  to  see  until  their 
quarry  was  so  near,  say  a  mile  or  two,  that  no 
expedient  in  the  way  of  low  visibility  would 


222  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

serve.  It  was  then  that  our  navy,  which  had 
been  following  experiments  in  camouflage,  ac- 
cepted the  dazzle  system  for  some  of  its  trans- 
ports, while  retaining  the  leaden  war-paint  for 
other  transports  and  for  fighting  craft. 

The  dazzle  system  as  applied  on  the  Leviathan 
and  other  vessels  under  jurisdiction  of  the  navy, 
has  for  its  idea  the  disruption  of  outline  and  de- 
ception as  to  the  true  course  a  vessel  is  follow- 
ing. The  writer  saw  the  Leviathan  under  way 
shortly  after  she  was  camouflaged,  and  at  a  dis- 
tance of  two  miles  it  was  utterly  impossible  to 
tell  whether  she  was  coining  or  going;  and  the 
observer  could  not  tell  whether  she  had  three 
funnels  or  six,  or  only  one.  It  was  noted  that 
as  her  distance  from  the  observer  became  greater 
the  vessel  assumed  a  yariety  of  effects.  Once 
it  seemed  as  though  both  bow  and  stern  had 
dropped  off,  and  finally  the  big  craft  suggested 
in  the  morning  haze  nothing  so  much  as  a  cathe- 
dral set  in  the  middle  of  the  bay. 

Effects  of  this  sort  are  produced  by  vertical 
stripes  of  black  and  white  at  bow  and  stern, 
by  long,  horizontal  lines  of  black  and  blue,  and 
by  patches  of  various  hues.  One  funnel  is 


ZIGZAG  COURSES  223 

gray,  another  blue  and  white,  another  all  blue. 
There  can  be  no  question  that  the  sum  total  of 
effect  offends  the  eye  and  dazes  the  senses. 
Submarines  have  been  known  to  make  errors  of 
eight  degrees  in  delivering  torpedoes  at  dazzle 
boats  even  at  close  range. 

In  addition  to  camouflage  experiments  on  one 
of  our  great  inland  lakes,  the  Navy  Department 
also  investigated  other  ideas  relating  to  the  self- 
protection  of  craft  at  sea.  Among  these  was  a 
device  by  which  a  vessel  zigzags  automatically 
as  she  proceeds  on  her  ocean  course.  The  ad- 
vantage of  such  an  invention  when  the  war 
zone  is  filled  with  submarines  waiting  for  a 
chance  for  pot  shots  at  craft  is  obvious. 

The  Navy  Department,  in  ghort,  has  neglected 
nothing  that  would  tend  to  enhance  the  safety 
of  our  ships  on  the  sea,  and  many  valuable 
schemes  have  been  applied.  But  when  all  is 
said  and  done  these  defensive  elements  are  and, 
it  seems,  must  remain  subsidiary  to  the  pro- 
tection as  applied  from  without,  the  protection 
of  swift  destroyers  with  then*  depth-bombs, 
their  great  speed,  and  their  ability  quickly  to 
manoeuvre. 


CHAPTER  XII 

THE  NAVAL  FLYING  CORPS — WHAT  THE  NAVY  DEPARTMENT 
HAS  ACCOMPLISHED  AND  IS  ACCOMPLISHING  IN  THE  WAY 

OF    AIR-FIGHTING EXPERIENCE     OF     A     NAVAL    ENSIGN 

ADRIFT  IN  THE  ENGLISH  CHANNEL — SEAPLANES  AND 
FLYING  BOATS — SCHOOLS  OF  INSTRUCTION — INSTANCES 
OF  HEROISM 

IN  writing  of  aviation  in  the  navy  an  incident 
which  befell  one  of  our  naval  airmen  in  the 
English  Channel  seems  to  demand  primary 
consideration,  not  alone  because  of  the  dra- 
matic nature  of  the  event,  but  because  it  sets 
forth  clearly  the  nature  of  the  work  upon  which 
our  flying  men  of  the  navy  entered  as  soon  as 
the  United  States  took  hostile  action  against 
Germany.  Our  navy  aviators,  in  fact,  were  the 
first  force  of  American  fighters  to  land  upon 
European  soil  after  war  was  declared.  Here  is 
the  story  as  told  by  Ensign  E.  A.  Stone,  United 
States  Naval  Reserve,  after  he  was  rescued  from 
the  Channel,  where  with  a  companion  he  had 
clung  for  eighty  hours  without  food  and  drink 
to  the  under-side  of  a  capsized  seaplane  pontoon. 
"I  left  our  station  in  a  British  seaplane  as 

224 


IN  THE  CHANNEL  225 

pilot,  with  Sublieutenant  Moore  of  the  Royal 
Naval  Air  Service  as  observer,  at  9  o'clock  in 
the  morning.  Our  duty  was  to  convoy  patrols. 
When  two  hours  out,  having  met  our  ships 
coming  from  the  westward,  we  thought  we 
sighted  a  periscope  ahead,  and  turned  off  in 
pursuit.  We  lost  our  course.  Our  engine 
dropped  dead,  and  at  11.30  o'clock  forced  us 
to  land  on  the  surface  of  a  rough  sea.  We  had 
no  kite  nor  radio  to  call  for  assistance,  so  we 
released  our  two  carrier-pigeons.  We  tied  a 
message  with  our  position  and  the  word  'Sink- 
ing' on  each.  The  first,  the  blue-barred  one, 
flew  straight  off  and  reached  home.  But  the 
other,  which  was  white-checked,  lit  on  our 
machine  and  would  not  budge  until  Moore 
threw  our  navigation  clock  at  him,  which  prob- 
ably upset  him  so  that  he  failed  us. 

"Heavy  seas  smashed  our  tail-planes,  which 
kept  settling.  I  saw  that  they  were  pulling  the 
machine  down  by  the  rear,  turning  her  over. 
We  tore  the  tail-fabric  to  lessen  the  impact  of 
the  waves.  It  wasn't  any  use.  The  tail-flat 
was  smashed  and  its  box  filled  with  water. 

"This  increased  the  downward  leverage  and 


226  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

raised  her  perpendicularly  in  the  air.  At  2. 30 
p.  M.  we  capsized.  We  climbed  up  the  nose  and 
'over  the  top'  to  the  under-side  of  the  pontoons. 
Our  emergency  ration  had  been  in  the  observer's 
seat  at  the  back,  but  we  had  been  so  busy  try- 
ing to  repair  the  motor  and  save  ourselves  from 
turning  over  that  we  didn't  remember  this 
until  too  late.  When  I  crawled  aft  for  food 
Moore  saw  that  I  was  only  helping  the  machine 
to  capsize.  He  yelled  to  me  to  come  back  and 
I  did,  just  in  time  to  save  myself  from  being 
carried  down  with  the  tail  and  drowned. 

"From  then  on  for  nearly  four  days,  until 
picked  up  by  a  trawler,  we  were  continually 
soaked  and  lashed  by  seas,  and  with  nothing  to 
eat  or  drink.  We  had  nothing  to  cling  to,  and 
so  to  keep  from  being  washed  overboard  we 
got  upon  the  same  pontoon  and  hugged  our 
arms  about  each  other's  bodies  for  the  whole 
time.  We  suffered  from  thirst.  I  had  a  crav- 
ing for  canned  peaches.  Twice  a  drizzle  came 
on,  wetting  the  pontoon.  We  turned  on  our 
stomachs  and  lapped  up  the  moisture,  but  the 
paint  came  off,  with  salt,  and  nauseated  us. 
Our  limbs  grew  numb.  From  time  to  time  the 


SIGHTED ! 

wreckage  from  torpedoed  ships  would  pass. 
Two  full  biscuit-tins  came  close  enough  to  swim 
for,  but  by  then  in  our  weakened  state  we  knew 
that  we  would  drown  if  we  tried  to  get  them 
We  did  haul  in  a  third  tin  and  broke  it  open;  it 
was  filled  with  tobacco. 

"Every  day  we  saw  convoys  in  the  distance 
and  vainly  waved  our  handkerchiefs.  We  had 
no  signal-lights  to  use  at  night.  Our  watches 
stopped,  and  we  lost  all  track  of  time.  We 
realized  how  easy  it  was  for  a  submarine  out 
there  to  escape  being  spotted.  On  Sunday 
night  we  spied  a  masthead  light  and  shouted. 
The  ship  heard  and  began  to  circle  us.  We  saw 
her  port  light.  Then  when  the  crew  were  visi- 
ble on  the  deck  of  the  vessel,  she  suddenly  put 
out  her  lights  and  turned  away. 

"She  thinks  we  are  Huns,'  said  Moore. 

"'I  hope  she  does,'  said  I.  'Then  they'U 
send  patrol-boats  out  to  get  us.  We  couldn't 
be  worse  off  if  we  were  Germans.' 

"But  no  rescue  came.  The  next  afternoon  a 
seaplane  came  from  the  east.  It  was  flying 
only  800  feet  overhead,  aiming  down  the  Chan- 
nel. It  seemed  impossible  that  she  could  not 


228  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

sight  us  for  the  air  was  perfectly  clear.  She 
passed  straight  above  without  making  any 
signal,  flew  two  miles  beyond,  and  then  came 
back  on  her  course. 

"'Her  observer  must  be  sending  wireless 
about  us,'  I  said. 

"'Yes,  that  is  why  we  get  no  recognition,' 
said  Moore,  'and  now  she's  decided  to  go  back 
and  report.' 

"But  that  plane  hadn't  even  seen  us.  Our 
spirits  fell.  We  had  been  afraid  of  two  things, 
being  picked  up  by  a  neutral  and  interned,  or 
captured  by  an  enemy  submarine.  Now  we 
even  hoped  that  the  enemy — that  anything — 
would  get  us,  to  end  it  all. 

"We  sighted  a  trawler  about  6  P.  M.  on  Tues- 
day. She  had  been  chasing  a  submarine,  and 
so  did  not  seem  to  take  us  very  seriously  at  first. 
We  waved  at  her  hah*  an  hour  before  she  changed 
her  course.  We  were  both  too  weak  to  stand 
up  and  signal.  We  could  only  rise  on  our 
knees.  Moore's  hands  were  too  swollen  to 
hold  a  handkerchief,  but  I  had  kept  my  gloves 
on  and  was  able  to  do  so.  The  trawler  moved 
warily  around  us,  but  finally  threw  a  life-pre- 


PIGEONS  RELEASED  229 

server  at  the  end  of  a  line.  I  yelled  that  we 
were  too  weak  to  grasp  it.  She  finally  hove 
to,  lowered  a  boat,  and  lifted  us  aboard.  Then 
we  collapsed. 

"I  remember  asking  for  a  drink  and  getting 
water.  The  skipper  would  let  us  take  only  sips, 
but  he  left  a  bottle  alongside  me  and  I  drained 
it.  He  gave  us  biscuits,  but  we  couldn't  chew 
or  swallow  them.  We  felt  no  pain  until  our 
clothing  was  ripped  off  and  blood  rushed  into 
our  swollen  legs  and  arms.  Moore  lost  six 
toes  from  gangrene  in  the  hospital.  My  feet 
turned  black,  but  decay  did  not  set  in." 

When  the  pigeon  released  by  Stone  and  Moore 
returned  to  the  base  every  machine  from  that 
seaplane-station,  as  well  as  from  a  station  on  the 
French  coast,  was  sent  out  to  search  for  the 
missing  seaplane,  while  destroyers  and  patrol- 
vessels  were  notified  to  be  on  the  lookout. 
Which  shows,  after  all,  how  difficult  the  job  of 
detecting  such  small  objects  as  submarines  is. 
Stone  had  enlisted  as  a  seaman,  and  was  trained 
in  aviation.  On  December  11,  1917,  he  was 
detached  from  the  air-station  at  Hampton 
Roads  and  ordered  to  France  for  duty,  arriving 


230 

there  January  21,  1918.  In  February  he  was 
ordered  to  report  to  the  commander  of  the 
United  States  naval  forces  at  London  for  patrol 
duty  in  England. 

Which  shows  the  way  the  Navy  Department 
worked  in  with  the  French  and  British  Admiral- 
ties, using  either  our  own  planes  or  those  of  our 
allies. 

When  the  navy's  plans  concerning  the  Ameri- 
can Naval  Flying  Corps  are  completed,  it  will 
have  an  air  service  of  fully  125,000  men,  of 
which  10,000  will  be  aviators.  There  will  be 
10  ground  men  for  every  aviator.  Observers, 
inspectors  and  specialists  of  various  sorts  will 
fill  out  the  total.  These  seaplanes  are  of  im- 
mense value  in  the  war  zones.  They  leave 
bases  for  regular  patrol  duty,  watching  the 
ocean  carefully,  and  locating  submersibles  at  a 
great  height.  Once  a  submarine  is  thus  located 
the  seaplane  descends  to  the  surface  and  noti- 
fies vessels  of  the  patrol-fleet  of  the  location  of 
the  craft,  or  in  cases  when  the  undersea  craft 
is  on  or  near  the  surface,  the  aviator  will  drop 
bombs  upon  the  vessel.  Seaplanes  are  also 
sent  from  the  decks  of  naval  vessels  to  scout 


NAVY  AVIATORS  231 

the  waters  through  which  a  fleet  may  be  trav- 
elling, while  large  vessels  serving  as  parent- 
ships  for  the  smaller  seaplanes — from  which 
they  fly  and  to  which  they  return — ply  the  in- 
fested waters.  The  service  is  a  valuable  one, 
and  a  thrilling  one,  and  only  the  best  types  of 
men  were  selected  by  the  Navy  Department  to 
engage  in  it. 

In  1917  Congress  appropriated  $67,7*S,OG0 
for  aviation  for  the  navy,  a  sum  which  permitted 
the  department  to  proceed  on  an  extensive 
scale.  And  right  here  it  may  be  said  that  the 
navy  has  fared  much  better  than  the  army  in 
the  progressive  development  of  air  service. 
Within  a  year  the  flying  personnel  of  the  navy 
had  grown  to  be  twenty  times  greater  than  it 
was  when  we  went  to  war,  and  where  a  year 
ago  we  had  one  training-school,  we  now  have 
forty  naval  aviation-schools. 

The  navy  has  not  only  strained  every  nerve 
to  turn  out  aviators  and  to  produce  airplanes, 
but  the  development  of  improved  types  of  planes 
has  not  been  overlooked,  and  we  now  have 
abroad  several  fine  types  of  seaplane  as  well 
as  airplane.  The  seaplane  is  merely  an  air- 


232  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

plane  with  pontoons.  It  starts  from  the  ground 
or  from  the  deck  of  a  vessel. 

Then  there  is  the  flying-boat,  developed  under 
naval  auspices.  This  boat  takes  wing  from  the 
water,  and  is  regarded  as  the  most  desirable 
form  of  aircraft  for  sea  purposes.  It  is  a  tri- 
umphant instance  of  our  ingenuity,  and  is 
built  in  two  sizes,  both  effective  under  the  pe- 
culiar conditions  which  may  dictate  the  use 
either  of  one  or  the  other.  The  navy  has  also 
developed  a  catapult  arrangement  for  launch- 
ing seaplanes  from  the  decks  of  war-ships. 
This  is  a  moving  wooden  platform,  carrying  the 
seaplane,  which  runs  along  a  track  over  the 
ship's  deck.  The  platform  drops  into  the  sea, 
and  the  seaplane  proceeds  on  its  course  through 
the  air. 

The  progress  of  the  navy  was  so  great  in 
arranging  for  the  home  coast-defense  aerial 
service  that  Secretary  Daniels  agreed  to  estab- 
lish air  coast-patrol  stations  in  Europe,  and  it 
was  not  long  before  our  naval  aviators  were 
rendering  signal  service  both  along  the  French 
and  the  British  coasts.  There  is  the  under- 
standing that  the  United  States  has  already 


NAVY  FACTORIES  233 

taken  the  lead  in  naval  aviation,  not  in  quan- 
tity, to  be  sure,  but  in  quality  and  efficiency, 
as  to  which  the  presence  of  foreign  experts 
studying  our  new  improvements  may  be  re- 
garded as  confirmatory  evidence. 

The  Navy  Department  now  has  an  aircraft 
factory  of  its  own  at  Philadelphia,  and  there 
flying-boats  are  now  being  turned  out.  Also, 
five  private  plants  throughout  the  country  are 
working  on  navy  aircraft  exclusively. 

The  Aircraft  Board,  which  succeeded  the  Air- 
craft Production  Board,  is  made  up  in  three 
parts:  a  third  from  the  navy,  a  third  from  the 
army,  and  a  third  civilian.  This  board  is  under 
the  joint  direction  of  the  Secretaries  of  War 
and  the  Navy. 

The  naval  flying-schools  are  located  at  Pen- 
sacola,  Fla.,  Miami,  Fla.,  Hampton  Roads,  Va., 
Bay  Shore,  L.  I.,  and  San  Diego,  Cal.  Some  of 
the  aviators  are  drawn  from  the  regular  naval 
forces,  but  the  great  majority  are  of  the  re- 
serves, young  men  from  civil  life,  college  men 
and  the  like,  who  have  the  physical  qualifica- 
tions and  the  nerve  to  fly  and  fight  above  tumul- 
tuous waters. 


234  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

The  men  training  in  the  naval  aviation-schools 
are  enrolled  as  Second  Class  Seamen  in  the 
Coast  Defense  Reserve.  Their  status  is  similar 
to  that  of  the  midshipmen  at  Annapolis.  Sur- 
viving the  arduous  course  of  training,  they  re- 
ceive commissions  as  ensigns;  if  they  do  not 
survive  they  are  honorably  discharged,  being 
free,  of  course,  to  enlist  in  other  branches  of 
service.  The  courses  last  about  six  months,  the 
first  period  of  study  being  in  a  ground  school, 
where  the  cadets  study  navigation,  rigging, 
gunnery,  and  other  technical  naval  subjects. 
Thence  the  pupil  goes  to  a  flight-school,  where 
he  learns  to  pilot  a  machine.  Here,  if  he  comes 
through,  the  young  cadet  is  commissioned  as 
an  ensign  L.  All  pilots  in  the  Naval  Reserve 
Flying  Corps  hold  commissions,  but  not  all  of 
the  pilots  in  the  regular  navy  are  commissioned 
officers,  a  few  rating  as  chief  petty  officers. 

The  men  who  act  as  observers — who  accom- 
pany the  pilots  on  their  trips,  taking  photo- 
graphs, dropping  bombs  and  the  like — are  not 
commissioned.  They  are  selected  from  men 
already  in  the  service,  regular  seamen,  marines, 
reserves,  or  volunteers.  Of  course,  these  men 


ENSIGN  READ  235 

have  their  opportunities  of  becoming  pilots. 
The  United  States  seaplanes  carry  extremely 
destructive  weapons,  which  will  not  be  de- 
scribed until  after  the  war.  The  Germans, 
it  may  be  assumed,  know  something  about 
them. 

The  spirit  of  our  naval  pilots,  both  students 
and  qualified  graduates,  is  of  the  highest,  and 
foreign  naval  officers  have  been  quick  to  express 
their  appreciation  of  their  services.  When  En- 
sign Curtis  Read  was  shot  down  in  February, 
1918,  while  flying  over  the  French  coast,  his 
funeral  was  attended  by  many  British  army 
and  navy  officers,  and  by  representatives  of 
both  branches  of  the  French  service.  Besides 
the  company  of  American  sailors  there  were 
squads  of  French  and  British  seamen,  who 
marched  in  honor  of  the  young  officer.  The 
city  of  Dunkirk  presented  a  beautiful  wreath 
of  flowers. 

"Nothing,"  wrote  Ensign  Artemus  Gates, 
captain-elect  of  Yale's  1917  football  eleven,  and 
a  comrade  of  Read's  in  France,  to  the  young 
officer's  mother,  "could  .be  more  impressive 
than  to  see  a  French  general,  an  admiral, 


236  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

British  staff-officers,  and  many  other  officers  of 
the  two  nations  paying  homage." 

The  death  of  Ensign  Stephen  Potter,  who  was 
killed  in  a  battle  with  seven  German  airplanes 
in  the  North  Sea  on  April  25,  1918,  followed  a 
glorious  fight  which  will  live  in  our  naval  annals. 
Potter  was  the  first  of  our  naval  pilots  to  bring 
down  a  German  airplane,  and  indeed  may  have 
been  the  first  American,  fighting  under  the 
United  States  flag,  to  do  this.  His  triumph  was 
attained  on  March  19,  1918.  Between  that 
time  and  his  death  he  had  engaged  in  several 
fights  against  German  airmen,  causing  them  to 
flee. 

And  in  this  country  our  course  of  training 
has  been  marked  by  many  notable  examples  of 
heroism  and  devotion,  none  more  so  than  the 
act  of  Ensign  Walker  Weed,  who,  after  his  plane 
had  fallen  in  flames  at  Cape  May,  N.  J.,  and 
he  had  got  loose  from  his  seat  and  was  safe, 
returned  to  the  burning  machine  and  worked 
amid  the  flames  until  he  had  rescued  a  cadet 
who  was  pinned  in  the  wreckage.  It  cost  Weed 
his  life,  and  the  man  he  rescued  died  after 
lingering  some  days;  but  the  act  is  none  the 


BALLOON  SERVICE  237 

less  glorious  because  the  gallant  young  officer 
gave  his  life  in  vain. 

Related  to  the  aviation  service,  to  the  extent 
at  least  that  they  observe  from  an  aerial  post, 
are  the  balloon  men  of  the  navy,  officers  who 
go  aloft  with  great  gas-bags,  which,  when  not 
in  use,  are  carried  on  the  decks  of  the  larger 
war-ships  engaged  in  work.  From  the  baskets 
of  these  sausage-shaped  balloons  the  observers, 
armed  with  telescopes  and  binoculars,  the  ocean 
and  the  ships  of  the  convoy  lying  like  a  map 
below,  sweep  the  surface  of  the  water  for  lurk- 
ing submarines  and  enemy  raiders.  The  bal- 
loons are  attached  to  the  war-ships,  and  are 
towed  along  through  the  air.  Just  how  effec- 
tive this  expedient  is,  is  known  only  to  the 
Navy  Department,  but  the  fact  that  it  is  re- 
tained argues  for  its  usefulness. 

Convoyed  merchant  vessels  steam  in  a  wedge 
or  V-shaped  formation.  At  the  apex  is  a  de- 
stroyer, following  which  is  an  armored  cruiser 
of  the  Colorado  or  Tennessee  type.  Astern  of 
the  cruiser  is  another  destroyer,  which  tows  the 
captive  balloon  at  the  end  of  a  very  light  but 
strong  steel  wire.  This  balloon-towing  destroyer 


238 


OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 


really  forms  the  point  of  the  wedge  formation. 
Behind  it  are  placed  the  two  diverging  lines  of 
merchant  ships,  which  follow  one  another,  not 
bow  to  stern,  but  in  a  sort  of  echelon  position. 
Down  through  the  centre  of  the  wedge  is  a 
line  of  armed  trawlers,  while  armed  vessels 
steam  outside  the  V.  Somewhat  astern  of  the 
convoy  is  another  destroyer,  which  tows  another 
captive  balloon.  As  a  final  means  of  protection, 
destroyers  fly  about  on  each  wing  of  the  convoy. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

ORGANIZATION  OF  THE  NAVAL  RESERVE  CLASSES — TAKING 
OVER  OF  YACHTS  FOR  NAVAL  SERVICE — WORK  AMONG 

THE  RESERVES  STATIONED  AT  VARIOUS  NAVAL  CENTRES 

WALTER  CAMP'S  ACHIEVEMENT 

IN  expanding  the  navy  to  meet  war  condi- 
tions, the  regular  personnel  was  increased, 
naval  militia  units  of  various  States  were  taken 
into  the  service  under  the  classification  National 
Naval  Volunteers,  and  volunteers  were  accepted 
in  the  following  classes:  Fleet  Naval  Reserve, 
made  up  of  those  who  had  received  naval  train- 
ing and  had  volunteered  for  four  years.  Naval 
Auxiliary  Reserve.,  made  up  of  seafaring  men 
who  had  had  experience  on  merchant  ships. 
Naval  Coast  Defense  Reserve,  made  up  of  citizens 
of  the  United  States  whose  technical  and  prac- 
tical education  made  them  fitted  for  navy -yard 
work,  patrol,  and  the  like.  Volunteer  Naval 
Reserve,  made  up  of  men  who  had  volunteered, 
bringing  into  service  their  own  boats.  And 
finally,  the  Naval  Reserve  Flying  Corps. 

£39 


240  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

It  is  from  these  classes  that  have  come  the 
men  to  put  our  navy  on  a  war  footing;  for  while 
the  reserve  classifications  brought  thousands 
and  hundreds  of  thousands  of  men  into  the  ser- 
vice, the  permanent  enlisted  strength  was  kept 
at  the  specified  figure,  87,000,  until  last  June, 
when  Congress  increased  the  allowance  to  131,- 
485.  This  action  was  regarded  as  one  of  the 
most  important  taken  since  the  country  entered 
the  war,  inasmuch  as  it  gave  notice  to  the 
world  that  the  United  States  in  the  future  in- 
tends to  have  a  fleet  that  will  measure  up  to  her 
prominent  position  in  the  world's  affairs.  It 
means,  too,  that  the  number  of  commissioned 
officers  would  be  increased  from  3,700,  as  at 
present  arranged,  to  some  5,500,  which  will 
no  doubt  mean  an  opportunity  for  officers  who 
are  now  in  war  service  in  the  various  reserve 
organizations. 

When  we  entered  the  war,  a  decision  to  send 
a  number  of  our  destroyers  to  France  imposed 
upon  the  Navy  Department  the  necessity  of 
protecting  our  own  coast  from  possible  sub- 
marine attack.  We  had  retained  destroyers 
in  this  country,  of  course,  and  our  battle  and 


NAVAL  DISTRICTS  241 

cruiser  fleet  was  here;  but  a  large  number  of 
mosquito  craft,  submarine-chasers,  patrol-boats, 
and  the  like  were  urgently  demanded.  Several 
hundred  fine  yachts  were  offered  to  the  Navy 
Department  under  various  conditions,  and  in 
the  Third  (New  York)  District  alone  some  350 
pleasure  craft  adapted  for  conversion  into  war- 
vessels,  were  taken  over.  Some  of  these  were 
sent  overseas  to  join  the  patrol-fleet,  more  were 
kept  here.  Besides  being  used  for  patrol-work, 
yachts  were  wanted  for  mine-sweepers,  harbor 
patrol-boats,  despatch-boats,  mine-layers,  and 
parent-ships.  They  were  and  are  manned  al- 
most exclusively  by  the  Naval  Reserves,  and 
operated  along  the  Atlantic  coast  under  the 
direction  of  officers  commanding  the  following 
districts:  First  Naval  District,  Boston;  Second 
Naval  District,  Newport,  R.  I.;  Third  Naval 
District,  New  York  City;  Fourth  Naval  Dis- 
trict, Philadelphia;  Fifth  Naval  District,  Nor- 
folk, Va. 

Hundreds  of  sailors,  fishermen,  seafaring  men 
generally,  and  yachtsmen  joined  the  Naval 
Coast  Defense  Reserve,  which  proved  to  be  an 
extremely  popular  branch  of  the  service  with 


OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

college  men.  Most  of  the  reserves  of  this  class 
— there  were  nearly  40,000  of  them — were  re- 
quired for  the  coast-patrol  fleet,  and  they  had 
enlisted  for  service  in  home  waters.  But  when 
the  need  for  oversea  service  arose  the  reserves 
made  no  objection  at  all  to  manning  transports 
and  doing  duty  on  patrol,  mine-laying,  mine- 
sweeping,  and  other  craft  engaged  in  duty  in 
the  war  zone. 

In  the  course  of  taking  over  yachts  by  the 
Navy  Department,  Franklin  D.  Roosevelt,  who 
has  been  so  efficient  and  untiring  in  his  capacity 
as  Assistant  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  charged  that 
yachtsmen  were  not  helping  the  government, 
and  were  holding  their  craft  for  high  prices. 
Probably  this  was  the  case  in  enough  instances 
to  make  Mr.  Roosevelt  impatient,  but  it  would 
seem  that  the  large  body  of  yacht-owners  did 
their  best,  not  only  donating  their  yachts  to  the 
government  or  selling  them  at  a  fair  price,  but 
by  themselves  enlisting  in  the  service. 

There  were  yachtsmen  who,  in  addition  to 
giving  their  boats,  defrayed  the  cost  of  main- 
tenance. Great  craft  such  as  G.  W.  C.  Drexel's 
Alcedo  (already  noted  as  sunk  by  a  torpedo), 


YACHTS  TAKEN  OVER  243 

A.  Curtiss  James's  Aloha,  J.  C.  and  A.  N. 
Brady's  Atlantic,  A.  C.  Burrage's  Aztec,  I.  T. 
Bush's  Christabel,  H.  A.  Loughlin's  Corona, 
J.  P.  Morgan's  Corsair,  Robert  T.  Graves's 
Emetine,  E.  P.  and  J.  W.  Alker's  Florence, 
Edgar  Palmer's  Guinevere,  George  F.  Baker,  Jr.'s 
Wacouta,  W.  L.  Harkness's  Cythera,  Robert  Goe- 
let's  Nahma,  J.  G.  Bennett's  Lysistrata,  John 
Borden's  Kanawha,  Henry  Walter's  Narada, 
Howard  Gould's  Niagara,  Horace  G.  Dodge's 
Nokomis,  Vincent  Astor's  Noma,  Mrs.  E.  H. 
Harriman's  Sultana,  Morton  F.  Plant's  Vanadis, 
P.  W.  Rouss's  Winchester,  Aphrodite,  the  O.  H. 
Payne  estate;  F.  G.  Bourne's  Alberta,  and  Ed- 
ward Harkness's  Wakiva — these  great  yachts 
among  other  steam-driven  palaces,  passed  into 
the  hands  of  the  Navy  Department  in  one  way 
or  another,  and  have  performed  valiant  service. 
Some  of  them,  indeed,  have  ended  their  careers 
violently  in  service. 

The  government  ripped  out  the  costly  interiors 
and  converted  these  panelled  floating  abodes  of 
the  wealthy  into  serviceable  fighters,  and  no 
doubt  will  retain  those  that  survive  when  the 
war  is  ended.  There  were  instances  where  the 


244  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

owners  of  yachts  and  the  Navy  Department 
could  not  agree  on  prices  to  be  paid.  The  naval 
authorities  finally  suggested  that  the  owners 
should  name  one  representative,  and  the  Navy 
Department  another,  and  terms  thus  agreed 
upon.  It  was  not,  however,  until  the  Depart- 
ment appointed  a  special  board,  whose  duty  was 
to  secure  suitable  boats  without  further  delay, 
that  affairs  began  to  proceed  smoothly.  The 
first  move  was  to  have  the  International  Mer- 
cantile Marine  Company's  shipping  experts  act 
as  agents  of  the  special  board,  and  from  that 
time  on  there  was  no  further  trouble. 

The  Mercantile  Marine  experts  not  only 
brought  about  the  transfer  of  yachts  to  the 
navy,  but  superintended  alterations  above  and 
below  deck,  arming,  outfitting,  coaling,  paint- 
ing, and  provisioning  the  converted  war-ships. 
While  this  was  in  progress  the  Navy  Depart- 
ment was  having  built  a  fleet  of  submarine- 
chasers  of  the  110-foot  class,  which,  together 
with  the  yachts  taken  over,  offered  abundant 
opportunities  for  oversea  service,  which  the 
sailors  enrolled  in  the  Coast  Defense  Division 
were  not  slow  to  accept  after  they  were  requested 


MERCHANT  VESSELS  245 

r 

to  transfer  their  enrolment  from  Class  4  to 
Class  2,  under  which  classification  they  were 
eligible  to  be  sent  abroad.  Thus  thousands  of 
young  men  who  had  enlisted  for  coast-patrol 
duty,  were  sent  aboard  transports,  submarine- 
chasers,  and  war-ships  generally,  for  service  in 
the  European  war  zones. 

And  with  this  constant  outflow  of  trained  men 
from  the  various  naval  training-stations  of  the 
country,  the  influx  of  newly  enlisted  reserves 
into  these  schools  gives  assurance  that  the 
Navy  Department  will  never  be  embarrassed 
for  lack  of  material  wherewith  to  man  its  boats. 
And  there  is  the  likelihood  that  as  our  new 
merchant  vessels  are  launched  and  put  into 
commission,  they  will  be  manned  by  reserves 
from  the  navy  training-schools  with  officers 
furnished  by  the  Deck  School  at  Pelham  Bay 
and  the  Engineers'  School  at  Hoboken.  The 
government,  of  course,  is  in  complete  control  of 
the  merchant  marine;  but  in  our  present  condi- 
tion many  American  ships  have  to  be  manned 
by  aliens.  It  will  be  surprising  if  this  state  of 
affairs  will  not  be  corrected  as  swiftly  as  the 
Navy  Department  is  able  to  do  so,  and  thus  we 


246  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

may  expect  to  see  our  young  seamen  diverted 
in  ever-increasing  numbers  to  merchant  vessels, 
the  precise  degree,  of  course,  to  be  dependent 
upon  the  needs  of  the  fighting  vessels.  Young 
officers,  no  doubt,  will  receive  commands,  and 
in  general  a  thriving  mercantile  marine  will  be 
in  readiness  for  operation  when  war  ends. 

Our  naval  training-stations  are  models  of 
businesslike  precision  and  well-ordered  pro- 
ficiency. Herein  are  taught  everything  from 
bread-baking  and  cooking  to  engineering,  gun- 
nery, and  other  maritime  accomplishments. 
Long  before  we  had  entered  the  war  a  deter- 
mination had  been  reached  by  individuals  and 
organizations  external  to  the  Navy — and  Army 
— Departments,  to  bring  to  the  naval  stations 
as  many  and  as  complete  comforts  and  con- 
veniences of  civilization  as  possible. 

Almost  immediately  after  the  American  decla- 
ration of  war,  the  purposes  of  the  authors  of  this 
scheme  were  presented  to  Congress,  and  per- 
mission for  them  to  carry  out  their  mission  was 
given  through  the  formation  of  the  sister  com- 
missions, the  Army  and  the  Navy  Commis- 
sions on  Training  Camp  Activities. 


WALTER  CAMP  247 

Although  entirely  separate  in  their  work — 
one  dealing  entirely  with  the  men  in  the  army, 
the  other  with  those  in  the  navy  camps — the 
same  authority  on  organized  humanitarian  ef- 
fort, Raymond  B.  Fosdick  of  New  York  City, 
one  of  the  original  group  with  whom  the  plan 
originated,  was  chosen  chairman  of  both.  Each 
commission's  work  was  divided  among  depart- 
ments or  subcommissions. 

In  the  Navy  Commission,  one  group,  the 
Library  Department,  supplied  the  enlisted  men 
of  the  navy  stations,  as  far  as  possible,  with 
books,  another  with  lectures,  another  with  music, 
vocal  and  instrumental,  another  with  theatrical 
entertainments,  including  moving-pictures,  and 
another  subcommission  directed  the  recreational 
sport. 

Mr.  Walter  Camp,  for  thirty  years  the  moving 
spirit,  organizer,  adviser,  and  athletic  strategist 
of  Yale,  was  chosen  chairman  of  the  Athletic 
Department,  with  the  title  General  Commis- 
sioner of  Athletics  for  the  United  States  Navy. 

Taking  up  his  task  in  midsummer,  1917, 
three  months  after  declaration  of  war  by  the 
United  States,  Mr.  Camp  at  once  brought  his 


248  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

ability,  experience,  and  versatility  into  play  in 
organizing  recreational  sport  in  the  navy  sta- 
tions. By  this  time  every  naval  district  was 
fast  filling  with  its  quota  of  enlisted  men,  and 
the  plan  of  the  Navy  Department  to  place  an 
even  hundred  thousand  men  in  the  stations  be- 
fore the  close  of  the  year  was  well  along  toward 
completion. 

Swept  from  college,  counting-room,  profes- 
sional office,  and  factory,  often  from  homes  of 
luxury  and  elegance,  to  the  naval  stations,  where, 
in  many  cases  arrangements  to  house  them  were 
far  from  complete,  the  young  men  of  the  navy 
found  themselves  surrounded  by  conditions 
to  which  they  pluckily  and  patiently  recon- 
ciled themselves,  but  which  could  not  do 
otherwise  than  provoke  restlessness  and  dis- 
comfort. 

Under  these  conditions  the  work  of  the  Navy 
Commission  was  particularly  timely  and  im- 
portant, and  that  of  Mr.  Camp  was  of  conspicu- 
ous value  through  the  physical  training  and 
mental  stimulus  which  it  provided  for  patriotic, 
yet  half  homesick  young  Americans,  from  whom 
not  only  material  comfort  and  luxury,  but  en- 


ATHLETICS  249 

tertainment  of  all  kinds,  including  recreational 
sport,  had  been  taken. 

Mr.  Camp  defined  the  scope  of  the  Athletic 
Department  of  the  Commission  as  follows,  in 
taking  up  his  duties: 

"Our  problem  is  to  provide  athletics  for  the 
men  in  order  to  duplicate  as  nearly  as  possible 
the  home  environment,  produce  physical  fit- 
ness with  high  vitality,  and  in  this  we  feel  that 
we  shall  have  the  most  generous  and  whole- 
souled  co-operation  from  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.,  the 
Knights  of  Columbus,  the  War  Camp  Com- 
munity Service,  and  all  the  agencies  that  are 
established  in  and  about  the  camps." 

Launching  the  movement  to  "duplicate  home 
conditions"  in  recreational  sport,  Mr.  Camp  ap- 
pointed athletic  directors  in  the  largest  districts 
during  the  fall,  and  in  every  one  the  programme 
of  seasonal  sport  was  carried  out,  comparable 
in  extent  and  quality  with  that  which  every 
enlisted  man  in  the  stations  would  have  enjoyed 
as  participant  or  spectator  in  his  native  city  or 
town,  school  or  college,  had  he  not  entered  mili- 
tary service. 

The  athletic  directors  who  were  chosen  were, 


250  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

in  every  case,  experienced  organizers  of  all- 
round  sports,  and  several  of  them  were  former 
college  coaches  or  star  athletes.  In  the  First 
District  at  Boston,  George  V.  Brown,  for  thir- 
teen years  athletic  organizer  for  the  Boston 
Athletic  Association,  was  named;  in  the  Second, 
at  Newport,  Doctor  William  T.  Bull,  the  former 
Yale  football  coach  and  medical  examiner;  in 
the  Third,  Frank  S.  Bergin,  a  former  Princeton 
football-player;  in  the  Fourth,  at  League  Island, 
Franklin  T.  McCracken,  an  athletic  organizer 
of  Philadelphia;  and  at  the  Cape  May  Station 
Harry  T.  McGrath,  of  Philadelphia,  an  all- 
round  athlete. 

In  the  Fifth  District,  Doctor  Charles  M. 
Wharton,  of  Philadelphia,  a  prominent  neurolo- 
gist and  University  of  Pennsylvania  football 
coach,  took  charge  late  in  the  fall,  resigning  in 
April,  1918,  to  become  field-secretary  of  the 
Navy  Commission  on  Training  Camp  Activities, 
and  being  succeeded  by  Louis  A.  Young,  of 
Philadelphia,  a  former  University  of  Pennsyl- 
vania football-player,  captain,  and  all-round 
athlete. 

In  the  Sixth  District,  at  Charleston,  S.  C., 


SPORTS  DIRECTORS  251 

Walter  D.  Powell,  a  former  University  of  Wis- 
consin football-player,  and  later  athletic  director 
at  Western  Reserve  University,  was  placed  in 
charge  of  the  programme,  and  at  the  Great 
Lakes  Station,  Herman  P.  Olcott,  who  had  been 
football  coach  at  Yale  and  athletic  director  at 
the  University  of  Kansas,  began  his  work  in 
October. 

Arthur  C.  Woodward,  formerly  interscholas- 
tic  athletic  organizer  in  Washington,  was  placed 
in  charge  of  the  Puget  Sound  Station  in  Bremer- 
ton; and  Elmer  C.  Henderson,  athletic  director 
in  Seattle  high  schools,  was  appointed  to  the 
Seattle  Station. 

David  J.  Yates,  of  New  York  City,  an  all- 
round  athlete  and  athletic  supervisor,  was  ap- 
pointed director  at  Pensacola,  combining  the 
work  of  athletic  organization  with  the  physical 
training  of  the  aviators  in  that  station. 

Intensely  practical  and  stimulating  as  well 
as  picturesque  and  almost  fascinating  pro- 
grammes in  their  attractiveness  were  carried 
out  during  the  fall  at  the  larger  stations.  The 
Newport  football  eleven,  captained  by  "Cupid" 
Black,  the  former  Yale  gridiron  star,  and  con- 


252  OUR  NA.VY  IN  THE  WAR 

taining  such  all-Ajnerican  players  as  Schlachter, 
of  Syracuse;  Hite,  of  Kentucky;  Barrett,  of 
Cornell;  and  Gerrish,  of  Dartmouth;  the  Boston 
team,  including  in  its  membership  Casey,  En- 
right,  and  Murray,  of  Harvard;  the  League 
Island  eleven,  captained  by  Eddie  Mahan,  the 
former  Harvard  all-round  player;  and  the  Great 
Lakes  team,  largely  composed  of  representative 
Western  gridiron  stars,  played  a  series  of  games 
on  the  fields  of  the  East  and  the  Middle  West, 
which  lifted,  temporarily,  the  curtain  which 
seemed  to  have  fallen  on  the  college  football 
heroes  when  they  passed  into  naval  service,  and 
allowed  the  sport-loving  public  of  America  to 
again  see  them  in  athletic  action. 

During  the  winter  the  value  of  the  athletic 
department  of  the  Commission  on  Training- 
Camp  Activities  to  the  Navy  became  clearer 
as  the  indoor  programmes,  which  were  organized 
by  Commissioner  Camp  and  his  lieutenants, 
the  athletic  directors,  were  carried  out.  Box- 
ing, wrestling,  swimming,  hockey,  basket-ball, 
and  other  athletic  instructors  were  appointed 
to  develop  every  kind  of  indoor  sport  until 
there  were  no  nights  when,  in  the  large  audi- 


MASS  EXERCISES  253 

toriums  of  the  navy  stations,  some  programme 
of  winter  sport  was  not  being  given  for  the  en- 
tertainment of  the  thousands  of  young  men  in 
camp.  Mass  sports  were  favored,  the  general 
rule  being  laid  down  that  the  chief  value  of 
every  game  lay  in  accordance  with  its  ability 
to  attract  a  larger  or  a  smaller  number  of  par- 
ticipants or  spectators. 

Among  the  sports  which  were  tried,  boxing 
proved  its  value  as  the  chief.  Attracting  crowds 
limited  only  by  the  size  of  the  auditoriums,  the 
boxing-bouts  which  were  held,  usually  semi- 
weekly  in  all  the  stations,  were  a  most  divert- 
ing feature  of  winter  life  in  camp.  One  reason 
for  their  popularity  can  be  directly  traced  to 
their  enforced  use  in  the  physical  training  of  the 
stations.  Lending  themselves  ideally  to  mass 
instruction,  the  boxing  exercises  were  taught  to 
classes  usually  numbering  between  150  and  200 
persons,  and  the  fact  that  every  marine  studied 
boxing  contributed  to  the  size  and  the  interest 
of  the  crowds  that  packed  the  ringsides  at  the 
frequent  bouts. 

The  teaching  of  boxing  was  also  emphasized 
for  its  life-saving  value  in  a  military  sense. 


254  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

The  maxim  is  taught  that  "every  move  of  the 
boxer  is  a  corresponding  move  by  the  bayonet- 
fighter."  Thus,  the  "jab"  corresponds  to  the 
"lunge,"  and  the  "counter"  to  the  "parry." 
To  illustrate  this  boxing  instruction,  and  to 
apply  it  to  bayonet-drill,  a  set  of  admirable 
moving-pictures  was  made,  such  clever  pugi- 
lists as  Johnnie  Kilbane,  Bennie  Leonard,  Kid 
McCoy,  and  Jim  Corbett  posing  for  the  boxing, 
and  Captain  Donovan,  the  eminent  English 
bayonet  instructor,  for  the  bayonet  films,  which 
were  exhibited  for  instruction  purposes  in  ev- 
ery navy  station.  Boxing  tournaments,  station 
championships,  and  army-navy  championship 
bouts  were  given  with  crowded  houses  every- 
where. 

Early  in  the  winter  Commissioner  Camp  gave 
directions  for  standardized  sets  of  instruction  in 
both  boxing  and  wrestling,  and  as  a  result,  in 
every  camp  in  the  country  the  groups  of  navy 
men  were  taught  the  same  methods  of  rudi- 
mentary boxing  for  their  value  in  a  military 
sense,  as  well  as  their  value  as  recreational 
sports. 

Soon  after  the  thousands  of  young  men  beg£2 


SWIMMING  255 

gathering  in  the  navy  camps,  the  discovery  was 
made  that  not  half  the  number  was  able  to 
swim.  For  men  destined  for  sea  life,  this  was 
a  vital  handicap,  and  early  in  the  spring  of  1918 
a  campaign  was  launched  to  increase  the  number 
of  swimming  instructors  and  the  facilities  which 
were  available  for  the  instruction  of  the  young 
men  both  in  sea  and  river,  as  well  as  in  pools 
and  tanks,  and  it  was  decided  to  hold  station 
tournaments,  races,  and  all  varieties  of  swim- 
ming events  during  the  season,  in  conjunction 
with  such  individual  instruction  as  it  was  neces- 
sary to  give  novices  in  the  art  of  swimming. 

Rowing  was  developed  during  the  season  of 
1918  to  the  extent  which  was  made  possible  by 
the  presence  of  cutters  in  the  different  stations. 
Wherever  possible,  crews  were  coached  in  the 
rudiments  of  rowing  by  old  oarsmen.  Racing 
between  the  cutter  crews  in  whatever  station 
was  ordered  for  every  available  date,  and  some- 
times as  many  as  twenty  boats  were  lined  up 
abreast,  and  were  shot  away  for  the  brushes 
between  the  cutter  crews  in  some  of  the  larger 
stations,  furnishing  a  variety  of  sport  compara- 
ble only  with  the  brilliant  scenes  at  the  inter- 


256  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR  , 

collegiate  races  over  the  Thames  course  at  New 
London,  or  the  Hudson  at  Poughkeepsie. 

As  football  reigned  supreme  in  the  fall  pro- 
gramme of  recreational  sport,  and  boxing  in  the 
winter,  baseball  furnished  the  greatest  solace 
for  the  men  of  the  navy  marooned  from  city 
and  college  games.  Scattered  through  the  sta- 
tions were  former  major  and  minor  league  and 
college  players  in  abundance,  and  nines,  vying 
in  their  intrinsic  strength  with  major-league 
champions,  were  organized  in  every  station. 
Jack  Barry  in  the  Boston  District,  :<  Toots" 
Schultz  in  the  Newport,  Phil  Choinard  in  the 
Great  Lakes,  Davy  Robertson  in  the  Norfolk, 
Jack  Hoey  in  the  Charleston,  and  Paul  Strand  in 
the  Seattle  Districts,  were  a  few  of  the  stars  of 
national  reputation  who  headed  the  teams. 
More  valuable,  however,  to  the  true  purpose 
of  the  organization  of  recreational  sports  than 
the  individual  stars  and  the  district  teams  were 
the  leagues  which  were  formed  in  the  respective 
stations,  for  they  kept  every  naval  base  engrossed 
in  a  wholesome  athletic  interest,  and  furnished 
natural  relaxation  from  the  exacting  drill  and 
drudgery  of  every-day  routine. 


TRACK  ATHLETICS  257 

Track  athletic  stars  of  college  and  amateur 
athletic  organizations  were  scattered  through 
every  station,  and  the  organization  of  track 
meets  was  begun  as  soon  as  the  men  of  the  navy 
reached  the  camps.  In  October,  1917,  before 
some  15,000  people,  the  track  men  of  the  Boston 
Station  took  part  in  games  on  Boston  Common, 
a  track  carnival  was  held  in  the  Harvard  Sta- 
dium a  month  later,  and  in  every  station  of  the 
country  track  tournaments  were  held  during 
the  season  of  1918. 

For  April  19,  the  anniversary  of  the  battle  of 
Lexington,  a  patriotic  team  relay  race  was  or- 
dered for  every  station  in  the  country  by  Com- 
missioner Camp.  In  the  First  District  the 
route  lay  over  the  historic  Marathon  course 
from  Ashland  into  Boston,  and  most  of  the 
teams  represented  either  the  army  canton- 
ment at  Camp  Devens  or  the  First  Naval  Dis- 
trict. In  most  instances  the  races  were  run 
from  an  army  to  a  navy  camp,  messages  being 
carried  from  the  commanding  officer  in  one  to 
the  similar  officer  in  the  other.  Secretary 
Daniels  of  the  navy  witnessed  the  First  Dis- 
trict event. 


258  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

In  most  cases  the  races  were  conducted  as  a 
feature  and  auxiliary  in  the  Third  Liberty  Loan 
campaign,  which  was  nearing  its  height,  and 
proved  a  valuable  factor  in  promoting  the  suc- 
cess of  the  drive.  It  is  believed  that  this  is  the 
first  national  race  which  was  ever  held  in  every 
section  of  the  United  States  at  the  request  of 
one  individual,  and  it  was  appropriate  that  the 
first  of  a  series  of  such  athletic  events  should 
be  of  a  purely  patriotic  scops  and  a  part  of  the 
national  military  service. 

Closely  related  to  the  work  of  Commissioner 
Camp  in  the  naval  stations  was  his  successful 
attempt  to  secure  for  the  aviators  the  use  of 
skilful  flight  surgeons  and  college  trainers  to 
safeguard  the  physical  condition  of  the  airmen. 
At  the  annual  conference  of  the  National  Col- 
legiate Association,  which  was  held  in  New  York 
City  in  December,  1917,  Mr.  Camp  called  at- 
tention to  the  fact  that  the  conditioning  of  the 
aviators  was  similar  to  that  of  college  athletes, 
and  was  just  as  vital;  and,  inasmuch  as  the 
physical  safety  of  football-players  and  other 
college  athletic  contestants  was  successfully 
guaranteed  by  experienced  trainers,  he  recom- 
mended that  several  of  the  best  be  selected  from 


TRAINERS  FOR  FLIERS  259 

leading  American  universities  to  go  to  the  avia- 
tion-fields and  take  charge  of  the  conditioning 
of  the  fliers.  Two  months  later,  recommenda- 
tion was  made  by  the  aviation  department  that 
from  ten  to  fifteen  such  trainers  be  named  by 
Mr.  Camp  to  go  at  once  to  the  aviation-stations 
and  pass  judgment  on  the  condition  of  the  fliers 
before  they  were  allowed  to  leave  the  ground. 
An  unusually  large  number  of  deaths  took  place 
in  the  United  States  during  practise  flights  of 
the  aviators  early  in  the  spring  of  1918,  and  in 
May  the  government  authorized  the  appoint- 
ment of  an  adequate  number  of  college  trainers 
to  carry  out  the  work  of  conditioning  the  airmen. 
Before  this  time  reports  of  conditions  in  England 
and  France  established  the  fact  that  more 
deaths  of  aviators  had  been  caused  by  the 
flight  of  the  airmen  when  in  poor  physical  con- 
dition than  by  any  defect  in  the  flying-machine. 
In  all,  Mr.  Camp's  work  has  been  adequately 
recognized  by  the  Navy  Department  as  of  the 
greatest  benefit,  and  the  constant  stream  of 
testimony  from  the  reserve  seamen  attached  to 
the  various  stations  that  "there  is  no  place  like 
the  navy,"  is,  in  some  part  due  to  the  activities 
of  this  veteran  Yale  athlete  and  his  associates. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

THE     UNITED     STATES     MARINE     CORPS — FIRST     MILITARY 
BRANCH  OF  THE  NATIONAL  SERVICE  TO  BE  SANCTIONED 

BY     CONGRESS — LEAVING     FOR    THE     WAR SERVICE     OP 

THE  MARINES  IN  VARIOUS  PARTS  OF  THE  GLOBE — DE- 
TAILS OF  EXPANSION  OF  CORPS — THEIR  PRESENT  SERVICE 
ALL  OVER  THE  WORLD 

WHEN  orders  came  for  some  2,700  United 
States  marines  to  go  to  France  there  was 
little  circumstance,  or  general  fuss  and  feathers, 
at  the  League  Island  Navy  Yard,  in  Philadel- 
phia. The  Marine  Corps,  which  is  under  con- 
trol of  the  Navy  Department,  was  quite  used 
to  such  things.  Through  all  the  years  when 
trouble  had  occurred  in  our  island  possessions, 
in  the  West  Indies,  Central  Ajnerica,  or  where 
not,  it  was  the  marines  who  received  orders  to 
start  out  and  settle  things.  As  a  consequence, 
orders  to  go  to  France  were  merely  in  the  line 
of  the  customary  day's  work. 

Thus  the  only  ceremony  characterizing  the 
departure  of  Colonel  Charles  A.  Doyen  and  his 
men  from  the  navy-yard  at  Philadelphia,  was 
a  brief  speech  by  Major-General  George  Barnett, 

260 


MARINES  LEAVE  261 

commandant  of  the  corps,  to  the  officers  of 
the  field  and  staff  of  the  overseas  outfit,  and  to 
the  company  officers.  No  colors  were  unfurled. 
No  reporters  or  press  photographers  were  pres- 
ent. The  regimental  bandsmen  went  to  war 
with  their  instruments  cased  and  rifles  over 
their  shoulders.  On  the  navy-yard  parade- 
ground  a  sailor  baseball  nine  from  one  of 
the  battleships  was  at  practice.  The  marines 
slipped  away  so  quietly  that  the  ball-players 
did  not  know  until  afterward  that  they  had 
missed  seeing  the  departure  of  2,700  men  bound 
for  the  battle-front. 

At  2.30  o'clock  that  afternoon  the  baseball- 
players  had  the  parade-ground  to  themselves, 
and  no  one  was  in  sight  on  the  street  in  front  of 
the  home  of  the  post  commander  of  marines 
but  a  small  boy  in  rompers,  playing  with  a 
fox-terrier.  A  few  seconds  later  the  head  of  a 
column  of  soldiers  of  the  sea,  clad  in  khaki,  and 
in  heavy  marching  order,  swung  into  that 
brick-paved  street.  The  major-general  com- 
mandant and  a  group  of  officers  from  head- 
quarters took  up  posts  on  the  turf  of  the  park- 
way beside  the  curb.  A  sergeant  of  marines,  in 


262  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

khaki,  came  running  across  the  parade-ground, 
set  up  a  motion-picture  camera,  and  began  to 
crank.  Another  sergeant  was  snapping  "stills," 
as  the  column  came  to  a  halt  and  faced  about 
toward  the  group  of  officers. 

The  company  officers  of  the  battalion  stepped 
out  in  front  of  Major-General  Barnett  and 
saluted.  Then  the  general  spoke  for  a  few  min- 
utes in  an  every-day,  conversational  tone.  He 
told  the  men  that  he  trusted  them,  that  he  knew 
they  would  uphold  the  honor  and  high  tradi- 
tions of  tho  corps  when  fighting  in  France 
under  General  Pershing.  The  officers  saluted 
and  stepped  back  to  their  places.  The  battalion 
stood  at  rigid  attention  for  a  moment.  Then 
with  a  snap,  rifles  jumped  to  shoulders,  squads 
swung  into  column  formation,  and  the  line 
passed  swiftly  down  the  street  to  the  gate  of 
the  navy-yard| 

No  cheering  crowd  greeted  the  marines  as 
they  emerged  from  the  gateway,  and  only  a 
few  persons  saw  them  board  a  train  of  day- 
coaches  for  a  near-by  port.  The  sun-browned 
fighting  men,  all  veterans  of  campaigning  in 
Hayti  and  Santo  Domingo,  waved  their  cam- 


AT  THE  NAVY-YARD  263 

paign  hats  from  the  windows  and  the  train 
moved  away. 

Half  an  hour  later  another  battalion  marched 
briskly  down  the  same  street  from  the  end  of  a 
tree-lined  vista,  and  formed  on  the  parade- 
ground.  The  bluejacket  nine  was  still  at 
baseball  practice,  but  the  marines  were  at  the 
far  end  of  the  field,  too  distant  to  attract  par- 
ticular attention.  A  third  battalion  formed 
and  stacked  arms  in  front  of  the  barracks. 
Presently,  without  so  much  as  a  bugle-note  for 
warning,  the  two  battalions  formed,  picked  up 
their  arms,  and  defiled  out  of  sight,  back  of  a 
screen  of  shade- trees. 

A  quarter  of  an  hour  later  a  rumor  came  to 
the  bluejacket  ball-players  that  the  marines 
were  boarding  ship.  The  jacky  beside  the 
home  plate  dropped  his  bat  and  ran  toward  the 
street,  his  team-mates  close  behind  him.  They 
were  too  late  to  catch  even  a  glimpse  of  the 
rear-guard.  The  marines,  just  as  swiftly  and 
quietly  as  if  they  were  on  their  way  to  Hayti, 
Santo  Domingo,  Vera  Cruz,  or  Nicaragua,  had 
departed. 

We  all  know  what  they  did  and  what  sub- 


264  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

sequent  regiments  of  marines  sent  to  the  front 
has  done.  Their  fighting  in  the  region  of 
Torcy  in  the  German  drive  of  last  June,  when 
the  Teutonic  shock  troops  got  a  reverse  shock 
from  the  marines,  has  already  become  a  part 
of  our  brightest  fighting  tradition.  The  ma- 
rines are .,  fighters,  have  always  been  so — but 
it  took  their  participation  in  this  war  to  bring 
them  prominently  before  the  public. 

"Who  and  what  are  the  marines?"  was  the 
question  frequently  asked  when  the  commu- 
niques began  to  retail  their  exploits.  Ideas 
were  very  hazy  concerning  them,  and  indeed, 
while  we  all  are  by  this  time  quite  familiar  with 
what  they  can  do,  there  are  many  of  us  even 
now  who  do  not  quite  know  what  they  are. 

Be  it  said,  then,  that  the  United  States 
Marine  Corps  was  authorized  by  the  Conti- 
nental Congress  on  November  10,  1775,  and 
therefore  has  the  distinction  of  being  the  oldest 
military  branch  in  the  United  States  service. 
The  corps  served  valiantly  throughout  the  Rev- 
olutionary War,  and  was  disbanded  at  the 
close  of  the  war,  April  11,  1782.  But  the  corps 
was  reorganized  and  permanently  established 


\ 


DUTIES  OF  MARINES  265 

July  11,  1798.  From  that  day  to  this,  its  offi- 
cers have  been  zealous  participants  in  every 
expedition  and  action  in  which  the  navy  has 
engaged,  and  in  many  trying  campaigns  they 
have  won  distinction  with  their  brethren  of  the 
army.  Their  motto  is  Semper  Fidelis,  and  ever 
have  they  lived  up  to  it  in  war  and  in  peace. 

The  marines  serve  both  on  land  and  sea. 
They  are  trained,  clothed,  and  equipped  very 
much  as  are  soldiers  of  the  land  forces.  In 
their  preliminary  instruction  on  shore,  at  navy- 
yards  and  naval-stations,  they  are  instructed 
and  drilled  in  the  duties  of  infantry  soldiers, 
field-artillery  men,  and  as  machine-gun  com- 
panies. In  preparation  for  their  duties  as 
landing-parties  from  ships  of  the  navy,  for  ex- 
peditionary duty,  and  as  defenders  of  naval 
advance  bases,  they  are  further  trained  in  the 
use  of  portable  search-lights,  the  wireless  tele- 
graph, the  heliograph,  and  the  various  other 
methods  of  signalling.  They  study  range-find- 
ing; erection,  operation,  and  maintenance  of 
telegraph  and  telephone  lines;  planting  of  land 
and  submarine  mines;  handling  of  torpedoes; 
erection  and  demolition  of  bridges;  building  of 


266  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

roads;  knotting  and  splicing  of  ropes;  handling 
of  heavy  weights;  fitting  of  gun-gear  and  the 
various  methods  of  slinging  and  transporting 
ordnance,  and  the  mounting  in  suitable  shore 
positions  of  guns  of  3,  5,  and  6  inch  caliber. 

In  their  service  on  battleships  and  cruisers, 
the  marines  form  a  part  of  the  ship's  comple- 
ment for  battle,  manning  the  6-inch,  5-inch, 
3-inch,  and  6-pounder  guns  of  the  intermediate 
and  secondary  batteries.  They  are  trained  and 
fully  equipped  for  instant  service  as  landing- 
parties  for  duty  on  shore. 

Great  mobility  and  facilities  for  quick  action 
are  required  of  the  marines,  and  they  must  be 
kept  in  readiness  to  move  at  a  moment's  notice 
and  be  prepared  for  service  in  any  climate. 
They  have  seen  service  in  Egypt,  Algiers,  Tripoli, 
Mexico,  China,  Japan,  Korea,  Cuba,  Porto 
Rico,  Panama,  Nicaragua,  Santo  Domingo, 
Formosa,  Sumatra,  Hawaii,  Samoa,  Guam, 
Alaska,  and  the  Philippine  Islands. 

Lieutenant  P.  N.  O'Bannon,  of  the  Marine 
Corps,  hoisted  the  first  American  flag  ever 
flown  over  a  fortress  of  the  Old  World  when 
Derne,  a  Tripolitan  stronghold,  was  taken  by 


"SOLDIERS  AND   SAILORS,  TOO"      267 

assault  on  April  917,  1805.  The  first  regulars 
who  entered  the  fortress  of  Chapultepec,  in 
Mexico  City,  when  it  was  taken  by  stojrm  on 
September  13,  1847,  were  marines,  under  com- 
mand of  Major  Levi  Twigg.  Under  command 
of  Robert  E.  Lee,  later  commanding  the  Con- 
federate Army,  marines  captured  John  Brown 
at  Harper's  Ferry,  in  1859.  A  battalion  of 
marines  under  Captain  John  L.  Broome,  occu- 
pied New  Orleans  upon  its  surrender,  and 
hoisted  the  American  flag  on  the  custom  house, 
April  29,  1862.  A  battalion  of  marines,  646 
officers  and  men,  commanded  by  Lieutenant- 
Colonel  R.  W.  Huntington,  was  the  first  Ameri- 
can force  that  landed  in  Cuba  in  1898,  when  it 
established  a  base  for  Admiral  Sampson's  fleet 
at  Guantanamo,  holding  their  position  against 
Spanish  regulars  who  were  said  to  number  7,000. 
The  United  States  Marines  of  the  battleship 
Oregon,  Captain  John  T.  Myers  commanding, 
were  the  first  American  troops  to  enter  Peking 
just  before  the  Boxer  insurrection  broke  out 
in  1900.  Lieutenant-Colonel  Neville's  marines 
were  the  first  ashore  at  Vera  Cruz  in  April, 
1914. 


268  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

It  will  thus  be  seen  that  the  Marine  Corps  of 
the  navy  is  a  highly  useful  organization,  and 
that  it  has  played  a  large  part  in  carrying  our 
flag  to  the  fore  in  all  our  wars.  Until  1883  offi- 
cers in  the  corps  were  appointed  from  civil  life. 
Beginning  with  that  year,  all  vacancies  were 
filled  from  graduates  of  the  Naval  Academy  at 
Annapolis.  This  practice  continued  until  1898, 
when  the  increase  in  the  corps  was  so  rapid 
that  the  Academy  could  not  furnish  a  sufficient 
number  of  officers.  Since  then,  until  1915, 
appointments  were  made  from  civil  life  and  by 
promotion  from  the  ranks.  In  1915  vacancies 
again  began  to  be  filled  from  Annapolis,  but  the 
entrance  of  our  country  into  the  war  brought 
about  the  award  of  commissions  on  a  broader 
scale.  To-day,  serving  with  the  marines  in 
France  are  a  number  of  young  officers  who,  a 
year  or  two  ago,  were  well-known  college  ath- 
letes, such  men  as  Eddie  Mahan,  of  Harvard; 
Billy  Moore,  of  Princeton;  Harry  LeGore,  of 
Yale;  Albert  Baston,  of  Minnesota,  and  many 
other  gridiron  and  diamond  heroes,  who  were  at- 
tracted to  this  branch  of  the  service  by  the  op- 
portunities offered  for  quick  action. 


OFFICERS'  SCHOOL  269 

There  is  a  Marine  Officers'  School  at  Norfolk, 
to  which  young  men  appointed  second  lieu- 
tenants from  civil  life  are  sent  for  two  years' 
intensive  study  before  being  assigned  to  regular 
duty.  The  course  covers  general  subjects,  and 
also  all  military  branches,  such  as  engineering, 
topography,  gunnery,  electricity,  signalling,  tor- 
pedo operation,  and  the  like.  In  the  case  of  col- 
lege men  appointed  lieutenants  for  war  service, 
the  majority  had  just  been  graduated  or  were 
seniors  in  their  respective  institutions ;  as  a  con- 
sequence, little  time  was  lost  in  the  study  of 
general  subjects,  the  idea  being  to  concentrate 
upon  military  subjects.  In  short,  the  Platts- 
burg  idea  was  put  into  effect,  with  what  re- 
sults may  be  judged  by  the  words  of  high  praise 
which  have  been  said  concerning  the  marine 
subalterns  in  France. 

Since  war  began  the  corps  has  grown  from  a 
total  of  13,266  enlisted  men  and  426  officers  to 
a  present  strength  of  38,629  enlisted  men  and 
1,389  officers.  The  increase  in  enlisted  men  has 
been  through  voluntary  enlistment;  in  one  in- 
stance a  college  battalion  enlisted  as  a  whole. 
The  personnel  represents  all  classes  of  the  com- 


270  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

munity:  college  and  business  men,  athletes, 
mechanics,  laborers,  and  in  one  instance  a 
former  Congressman,  who,  although  slightly 
over  the  usual  age,  attained  the  rank  of  second 
lieutenant  through  his  devotion  to  duty  and 
application. 

The  recruit  depots  at  Port  Royal,  S.  C.,  and 
Mare  Island,  Cal.,  have  proved  equal  to  the 
demands  made  upon  them,  and  here  the  pre- 
liminary training  of  the  mass  of  recruits  has 
been  accomplished.  No  detail  of  the  training 
of  a  soldier  has  been  neglected,  and  on  the 
transfer  of  these  new  men  to  the  concentration 
camp  at  Quantico,  Va.,  the  majority  has  worn 
the  insignia  of  expert  rifleman,  sharpshooter,  or 
marksman.  Here  at  Quantico  the  men  have 
completed  their  course  of  intensive  training  in 
the  new  organizations  formed  at  that  post  for 
service  overseas.  Five  regiments  of  infantry, 
with  their  attendant  replacement  units,  have 
been  organized  in  addition  to  a  brigade  of  artil- 
lery, since  the  creation  of  this  new  post,  in 
June,  1917. 

Besides  the  brigade  of  marines  in  France,  it 
is  necessary  to  maintain  forces  of  marines  in 


FAR-FLUNG  SERVICE  271 

Santo  Domingo,  Hayti,  the  Virgin  Islands, 
Guam,  Cuba,  China,  the  Philippines,  Porto  Rico, 
and  Honolulu,  while  there  is  a  small  detach- 
ment in  London.  The  fleet  of  battleships  and 
cruisers  absorbs  a  goodly  percentage  of  the 
present  force,  while  at  the  same  time  it  has  been 
necessary  to  supply  men  to  augment  the  gar- 
risons of  the  navy-yards,  naval  ammunition 
depots,  radio-stations,  and  other  posts  of  the 
country. 


CHAPTER  XV 


SCOPE  OF  THE  NAVY  S  WORK  IN  VARIOUS  PARTICULARS — • 
FOOD — FUEL— NAVAL  CONSULTING  BOARD — PROJECTILE 
FACTORY — EXPENDITURES — INCREASE  OF  PERSONNEL 


IN  the  way  of  progress  in  naval  construction 
or  appliance,  it  is  not  the  opinion  of  our 
naval  technicians  that  the  war  from  its  incep- 
tion to  the  present  time  has  developed  any 
hitherto  unknown  feature.  Guns  and  ships,  to 
be  sure,  have  increased  in  size,  and  details  of 
the  submarine  and  airplane  have  vastly  im- 
proved these  weapons  of  offense,  but  substan- 
tially no  weapon  hitherto  known  has  been  dis- 
credited by  use  in  this  war,  and  even  all  classes 
of  war-ships  built  before  the  war  have  with- 
stood the  test  of  new  conditions  as  to  their 
usefulness  along  the  lines  for  which  they  were 
originally  designed. 

Germany  has  not  improved  the  submarine, 
except  in  detail.  Undersea  craft  of  that  coun- 
try which  have  been  recently  captured  show 

272 


BATTLESHIPS  STILL  SUPREME          273 

little  deviation  from  the  original  lines  of  the 
submarine  as  used  in  the  German  Navy  four 
years  ago.  They  are  larger — the  new  ones, 
that  is — but  the  principle  of  their  construction 
is  fundamental,  and  the  development  not  un- 
natural. 

Our  modern  submarine-chasers  are  merely  a 
modified  form  of  the  torpedo-boat  destroyer. 
The  depth-bomb  was  known  before  it  was  em- 
ployed as  one  of  the  most  effective  weapons 
against  the  submarine. 

Naval  authorities  join  in  defending  the  big 
battleship  which  has  come  into  action  but 
little  in  the  course  of  the  war  thus  far.  There 
is  to  be  considered,  however,  the  moral  effect 
of  Great  Britain's  big  fleet,  which  has  main- 
tained control  of  the  seas  for  four  years.  Simi- 
larly our  American  fleet  is  regarded  as  the  first 
and  decisive  line  of  defense  on  our  shores. 

Battleships,  it  is  true,  do  not  figure  frequently 
in  the  official  communiques,  but  none  the  less 
they  are  playing  their  part.  Battleships  are 
absolutely  a  necessary  and  vital  element  to 
every  nation  at  war.  They  constitute  the  last 
great  line  of  defense,  and  in  this  war  they  have 


274  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

succeeded  in  keeping  the  seas  practically  free 
of  enemy  menace  save  under  the  water. 

In  this  final  chapter  may  be  included  various 
details,  facts,  and  figures  which  are  necessary 
as  giving  further  point  to  the  enormous  scope 
of  the  war  activities  of  the  Navy  Department. 
In  1916,  then,  the  officers  and  enlisted  men  of 
the  regular  navy  and  the  Marine  Corps  totalled 
82,738.  In  March,  1918,  the  strength  of  the 
naval  forces,  including  regular  navy,  marines, 
naval  reserve  force,  national  naval  volunteers, 
and  coast  guard,  was  349,997,  and  at  this  writing 
is  more  than  400,000.  The  total  expenditures 
of  the  navy  from  the  date  of  its  establishment  in 
1794  to  1916,  inclusive,  were  $3,367,160,591.77, 
only  about  $34,000,000  in  excess  of  the  appro- 
priations real  and  pending  since  August  26, 
1916.  For  the  specific  purposes  of  new  construc- 
tion appropriations  totalling  $295,000,000  have 
been  made. 

On  April  1,  1917,  there  were  building  15  bat- 
tleships, 6  battle  cruisers,  7  scout  cruisers,  27 
destroyers,  61  submarines,  2  fuel  ships,  1  supply 
ship,  1  transport,  1  gunboat,  1  hospital  ship, 
and  1  ammunition  ship.  Since  that  date  con- 


OTHER  ACTIVITIES  275 

tracts  have  been  placed  for  949  vessels,  includ- 
ing 100  submarine-chasers  for  co-belligerent  na- 
tions. The  Board  of  Construction  and  Repair 
has  also  prepared  in  co-operation  with  the 
Shipping  Board,  a  number  of  preliminary  de- 
signs of  simplified  merchant  vessels,  varying  in 
length  from  400  to  800  feet. 

In  June  of  1917, 180  acres  of  land  were  secured 
at  South  Charleston,  W.  Va.,  for  a  projectile 
plant,  which  is  now  in  operation.  An  armor- 
plate  factory  will  be  constructed.  In  one  plant 
manufacturing  steel  forgings  the  output  was  in- 
creased 300  per  cent  within  two  months  after 
government  managers  were  installed. 

The  expansion  of  the  naval  establishment 
has  necessitated  a  great  increase  in  facilities  for 
the  assembling,  housing,  and  distribution  of 
stores,  and  these  needs  have  been  largely  met 
at  Boston,  Philadelphia,  and  Hampton  Roads 
by  large  emergency  and  permanent  construc- 
tions. 

In  the  Commissary  Department  the  effort 
has  been  to  see  that  the  naval  forces  continue 
to  be  what  the  surgeon-general  has  stated  they 
are:  the  "best  fed  body  of  men  in  the  world." 


276  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

Sailors  are  no  poison  squad,  and  all  efforts  to 
try  upon  the  officers  and  seamen  of  the  force 
any  experimental  or  test  food  have  been  rigor- 
ously suppressed.  The  high  cost  of  living  has 
been  reflected  in  the  cost  of  the  navy  ration, 
but  the  price  has  been  met.  There  were  clothing 
shortages  during  the  early  weeks  of  the  war, 
but  prompt  and  efficient  action  by  the  Bureau 
of  Supplies  and  Accounts  has  remedied  all  this. 
Fuel  for  the  navy  has  been  handled  by  means 
of  allotments  placed  with  the  principal  operators 
in  coal-producing  States,  the  prices  being  fixed 
by  the  Fuel  Administrator.  The  navy's  stocks 
of  fuel  have  been  maintained  to  capacity,  and 
shipments  have  been  made  to  the  fleet  within 
the  time  required  in  all  cases.  Fuel  oil  has  been 
obtained  in  similar  manner  at  the  prices  fixed 
by  the  Federal  Trade  Commission.  The  Medi- 
cal Department  of  the  navy  passed  quietly  from 
a  peace  to  a  war  footing  on  April  6,  1917,  and 
has  since  continued  to  give  adequate  and  satis- 
factory service.  With  the  completion  of  a 
hospital  ship  now  building,  the  navy  will  have 
four  hospital  ships  as  against  one  when  war 
began.  Prior  to  the  war  there  were  about  375 


RADIO-STATIONS  277 

medical  officers  on  duty.  There  are  to-day 
1,675  medical  officers  in  active  service,  and  200 
more  on  reserve.  Where  30  dental  surgeons 
were  formerly  employed  there  are  now  245. 
The  number  of  female  nurses  has  increased 
from  160  to  880. 

The  President  at  the  outbreak  of  war  directed 
the  Navy  Department  to  take  over  such  radio- 
stations  as  might  be  required  for  naval  com- 
munications, all  others  being  closed.  Fifty- 
three  commercial  radio-stations  were  thus  taken 
into  the  Naval  Communication  Service.  Be- 
cause of  duplications,  twenty-eight  of  these  sta- 
tions were  closed.  Thousands  of  small  amateur 
radio-stations  were  closed.  At  present  no  radio 
communication  is  permitted  on  United  States 
territory  (not  including  Alaska),  except  through 
stations  operated  by  the  Navy  Communication 
Department  or  by  the  War  Department. 

With  the  need  of  operators  apparent,  a  school 
for  preliminary  training  in  radio -telegraphy  was 
established  in  each  naval  district,  and  when  the 
need  for  a  central  final  training-school  developed, 
Harvard  University  offered  the  use  of  buildings, 
laboratories,  and  dormitories  for  this  purpose. 


278  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

The  offer  was  accepted,  and  now  the  naval-radio 
school  at  Harvard  is  one  of  the  largest  educa- 
tional institutions  in  the  country.  There  Is 
another  final  training-school  at  Mare  Island, 
Cal.  The  navy  supplies  the  operators  for  the 
rapidly  increasing  number  of  war  vessels,  and 
has  undertaken  to  supply  radio  operators  for 
all  merchant  vessels  in  transatlantic  service. 

At  Harvard  and  Mare  Island  the  radio  stu- 
dents are  put  through  four  months'  courses, 
which  embraces  not  only  radio-telegraphy  and 
allied  subjects,  but  military  training.  Some 
500,000  men  have  been  undergoing  courses  at 
these  two  schools  alone. 

When  war  occurred  the  Coast  Guard  was 
transferred  from  the  Treasury  Department  to 
the  Navy  Department,  and  the  personnel  now 
consists  of  227  officers  and  4,683  warrant  officers 
and  enlisted  men. 

In  the  work  of  examining  and  considering  the 
great  volume  of  ideas  and  devices  and  inven- 
tions submitted  from  the  public,  the  Naval 
Consulting  Board  has  rendered  a  signal  service. 
Beginning  March,  1917,  the  Navy  Department 
was  overwhelmed  with  correspondence  so  great 


NAVAL  CONSULTING  BOARD     279 

that  it  was  almost  impossible  to  sort  it.  Letters, 
plans,  and  models  were  received  at  the  rate  of 
from  5  to  700  a  day.  Within  a  year  upward  of 
60,000  letters,  many  including  detailed  plans,, 
some  accompanied  by  models,  have  been  exam- 
ined and  acted  upon.  To  do  this  work  a  greatly 
enlarged  office  force  in  the  Navy  Department 
was  necessary,  and  offices  were  established  in 
New  York  and  San  Francisco.  While  a  com- 
paratively small  number  of  inventions  have 
been  adopted — some  of  them  of  considerable 
value — the  majority  has  fallen  into  the  class  of 
having  been  already  known,  and  either  put 
into  use  or  discarded  after  practical  test. 

And  thus  the  Navy  Department  is  carrying 
on  its  share  of  the  war,  a  share  significant  at 
the  very  outset  as  one  of  our  most  important 
weapons  in  the  establishment  of  the  causes  for 
which  the  United  States  entered  the  great 
conflict. 


CHAPTER  XVI 

THE  BEGINNING   OF  THE   END REPORTS   IN  LONDON  THAT 

SUBMARINES    WERE    WITHDRAWING    TO    THEIR    BASES    TO 
HEAD  A  BATTLE  MOVEMENT  ON  THE  PART  OF  THE  GERMAN 

FLEET HOW    THE    PLAN    WAS    FOILED THE    SURRENDER 

OF  THE   GERMAN  FLEET  TO  THE   COMBINED   BRITISH   AND 

AMERICAN    SQUADRONS DEPARTURE    OF    THE    AMERICAN 

SQUADRON — WHAT     MIGHT     HAVE     HAPPENED     HAD     THE 
GERMAN   VESSELS   COME   OUT   TO   FIGHT 

I~N  the  early  fall  of  1918  an  American  naval 
-*-  officer,  who  enjoyed  to  a  peculiar  degree 
the  confidence  of  certain  officers  of  the  British 
Admiralty,  was  attending  to  duties  of  an  ex- 
tremely confidential  nature  in  London  when 
one  morning  he  was  accosted  by  a  friend,  an 
officer  high  in  the  councils  of  His  Majesty's 
Navy. 

"M—  — ,"  he  said,  "I  have  rather  an  impor- 
tant bit  of  news.  Within  a  few  weeks — in  fact, 
we  cannot  quite  tell  how  soon — there  is  going 
to  be  the  greatest  naval  engagement  the  world 
has  ever  seen.  We  are  ready  for  them,  though, 
and  we  shall  win." 

The  American  was  naturally  curious,  and  in 
reply  to  his  questions  the  Briton  went  on  to 

280 


NAVAL    BATTLE    IMMINENT  281 

say  that  from  certain  intelligence  quarters  word 
had  come  that  the  trend  of  German  U-boats 
back  to  their  bases — which  had  been  noted  for 
a  week  or  so — contained  a  grim  meaning.  It 
meant,  in  fine,  the  emergence  of  the  German 
fleet,  headed  by  the  submarines,  prepared  for 
a  final  battle  to  establish  the  question  of  sea 
power. 

One  may  imagine  the  tenseness  that  reigned 
at  the  Admiralty,  and  the  code  messages  that 
flew  back  and  forth  between  London  and  the 
flag-ship  of  the  British  and  American  battle 
fleet.  As  it  happened,  the  German  sea  fighters 
never  sallied  forth  in  battle  array,  their  final 
appearance  being  less  warlike. 

But  they  would  have  come,  it  transpired 
later,  had  not  the  sailors  of  the  fleet  intercepted 
messages  from  German  officers  to  their  families, 
bidding  a  last  good-by.  They  never  expected 
to  return  from  this  last  fight.  But  the  seamen 
were  of  a  different  mind  from  their  officers. 
They  declined  to  go  forth  to  a  losing  battle, 
and  they  struck.  This,  then,  appears  to  be  the 
reason  why  the  German  battleships  and  ar- 
mored cruisers  and  the  like  did  not  come  forth 


282  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

to  battle — at  least  this  is  one  of  the  stories 
told  in  navy  circles. 

With  the  events  that  followed  the  cessation 
of  hostilities  on  November  11  almost  every 
American  is  familiar.  The  armistice  of  that 
date  demanded  that  Germany  give  her  entire 
fleet  to  the  keeping  of  England.  For  a  discus- 
sion of  the  surrender  the  German  light  cruiser 
Koenigsberg  brought  representatives  from  the 
Soldiers'  and  Sailors'  Council,  which  was  then 
in  nominal  control  of  the  German  fleet,  into 
the  Firth  of  Forth.  Admiral  Beatty  refused  to 
deal  with  these  representatives,  and  insisted 
that  all  arrangements  be  made  through  some 
flag-officer  of  the  imperial  fleet. 

Thereupon  Admiral  von  Reuter,  the  com- 
manding German  officer,  went  aboard  the  Queen 
Elizabeth,  and  there  arranged  with  Admiral 
Beatty  and  his  flag-officers  for  the  surrender. 
At  dinner  the  German  officers  dined  at  one 
table,  the  British  at  another.  After  more  dis- 
cussion the  Koenigsberg  departed  for  Kiel  about 
ten  that  night.  The  commander-in-chief  then 
issued  an  order  to  all  his  ships,  prescribing  the 
entire  details  of  the  surrender. 


AMERICAN   FLEET   JOINS    BRITISH      283 

The  American  battle  squadron  got  under 
way  about  4  A.  M.  November  21,  1918,  and 
steamed  from  the  Forth  bridge  out  of  the  Firth 
into  the  North  Sea. 

The  entire  Grand  Fleet  was  here  concen- 
trated, formed  in  two  long  parallel  lines  steam- 
ing due  east  six  miles  apart,  our  American 
squadron  being  the  second  one  in  the  northern 
line.  By  that  time  the  Sixth  Battle  Squadron 
was  composed  of  the  New  York,  Texas,  Wyoming, 
Arkansas,  and  Florida,  the  Delaware  having  re- 
turned home.  Our  ships  were  led  by  the  New 
York.  About  9  A.  M.  the  men  crowding  the 
decks  sighted  some  smoke  coming  dead  ahead 
out  of  the  mist,  and  in  a  short  time  the  Ger- 
man battle-cruisers  were  plainly  seen  leading  the 
other  German  ships  in  their  last  trip  at  sea 
under  their  own  flag.  They  were  not  flying 
battle-flags.  At  this  time  every  one  of  the 
Anglo-American  ships  was  at  her  battle  station, 
turrets  were  fully  manned,  and  all  preparations 
made  for  treachery  at  the  last  minute. 

The  German  line,  led  by  the  Seydlitz,  steamed 
slowly  between  the  Allied  lines,  keeping  perfect 
station,  and  when  their  flag-ship  came  abreast 


284  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

of  the  Queen  Elizabeth  the  signal  was  given  for 
the  whole  Grand  Fleet  to  make  a  turn  of  180 
degrees,  and  return  into  port  with  the  humili- 
ated enemy.  The  appearance  of  the  enemy 
ships  was  very  good.  There  is  no  doubt  they 
were  magnificent  fighting  ships,  and  that  in 
action  they  would  have  acquitted  themselves 
gallantly. 

Lieutenant  W.  A.  Kirk,  U.  S.  N.,  who  wit- 
nessed the  surrender  from  a  point  of  vantage  on 
the  bridge  of  the  battleship  New  York,  stand- 
ing just  behind  Admiral  Rodman  and  Admiral 
Sims,  said  that  it  was  exceedingly  difficult  at 
the  time  to  grasp  the  significance  of  then-  sur- 
render and  feel  duly  impressed,  as  there  was  a 
lack  of  show  or  emotion  of  any  kind. 

"The  whole  affair,"  he  added,  "was  run 
exactly  according  to  prearranged  schedule,  and 
was  only  another  proof  of  the  quiet,  business- 
like, efficient  way  the  Royal  Navy  does  things." 
Continuing,  he  said: 

"We  proceeded  into  port  in  this  formation, 
our  lines  gradually  converging  as  we  approached  * 
the    entrance    of    the    Firth    of    Forth.     After 
reaching  a  point  a  short  distance  in  the  Firth 


SURRENDER    OF   THE    GERMAN   FLEET     285 

the  German  ships  dropped  anchor,  and  Ad- 
miral Beatty  on  his  flag-ship  stood  by  to  in- 
spect them.  As  we  passed  within  500  yards 
of  the  enemy  ships  on  our  way  to  anchorage, 
we  gave  the  British  Admiral  three  rousing  cheers. 
He  returned  them  by  waving  his  hat  to  Ad- 
miral Rodman.  About  three  that  afternoon 
Admiral  Beatty  sent  his  famous  message,  'The 
German  flag  will  be  hauled  down  at  sunset 
to-day,  and  will-  not  be  flown  again  until  further 
orders.'  The  German  ships  a  few  days  later, 
and  after  more  inspection,  were  convoyed  to 
their  port  of  internment,  Scapa  Flow." 

The  American  battleships  remained  with  the 
Grand  Fleet  for  about  two  weeks  after  the  sur- 
render, and  then  departed,  amid  many  felicita- 
tions and  interchange  of  compliments,  to  Port- 
land, where  they  joined  the  vessels  assembled 
to  escort  President  Wilson  into  Brest.  This 
done,  the  American  sea-fighters  lay  for  a  day 
in  Brest,  and  then,  spreading  600-foot  home- 
ward-bound pennants  to  the  breezes,  the  ar- 
mada headed  for  the  United  States,  where  at 
the  port  of  New  York  the  men  of  the  fleet 
paraded  down  Fifth  Avenue,  to  the  appreciative 


286  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

acclaim  of  tens  upon  tens  of  thousands  of  en- 
thusiastic patriots  who  lined  Fifth  Avenue.  .  .  . 

Had  the  German  fleet  come  out  for  battle  a 
large  percentage  of  it  would  unquestionably 
have  been  destroyed,  and  yet  it  is  the  theory 
of  naval  officers  that  some  units,  perhaps  the 
swift  cruisers,  would  in  the  very  nature  of  the 
fighting  (sea  battles  are  fought  upon  the  lines 
of  two  great  arcs)  have  succeeded  in  shaking 
themselves  loose,  to  the  consequent  detriment 
of  our  freight  and  transport  traffic.  Cruisers 
speeding  free  upon  the  face  of  the  broad  ocean 
are  difficult  to  corner,  and  a  great  amount  of 
damage  might  have  been  inflicted  on  the  Allies 
before  all  were  finally  hunted  down. 

As  it  was,  the  enemy  fleet  remained  at  its 
base,  and  in  the  end  came  forth  peacefully,  as 
has  been  described.  Had  the  war  gone  on, 
had  the  German  craft  not  appeared  for  battle, 
a  plan  to  smother  then*  base  through  the  me- 
dium of  clouds  of  bombing  airplanes  would 
unquestionably  have  been  put  into  effect  at  a 
good  and  proper  time.  And  at  the  same  junc- 
ture, no  doubt,  our  Sixth  Squadron  would  have 
joined  with  the  Grand  Fleet  in  an  attack  upon 


WHY    THE    SUBMARINE   FAILED        287 

Heligoland,  plans  for  which  are  still  in  exist- 
ence. 

In  the  waning  months  of  the  war  it  had 
become  increasingly  clear  that  the  submarine 
as  a  weapon  to  decide  the  war  was  ineffective. 
Not  only  were  the  Allied  destroyers  and  chasers 
armed  with  their  depth-bombs,  waging  a  suc- 
cessful fight  against  the  undersea  boats,  but 
other  methods  were  beginning  to  have  their 
effect.  Chief  among  these  were  our  mine- 
laying  exploits,  by  which,  in  October  of  1918, 
was  established  a  mine-barrage  across  the  North 
Sea,  which  proved  a  tremendous  handicap  to 
the  German  U-boats. 

Captain  Reginald  R.  Belknap,  U.  S.  N., 
commanding  Mine  Squadron  I  of  the  Atlantic 
Fleet,  which  operated  in  European  waters,  has 
compiled  an  interesting  account  of  the  impor- 
tant part  played  by  the  United  States  mine- 
laying  squadron  in  planting  mines  in  the  North 
Sea.  From  the  time  the  United  States  joined 
in  the  war,  he  says,  our  Navy  Department 
urged  strong  measures,  essentially  offensive,  to 
hem  in  the  enemy  bases,  so  that  fewer  sub- 
marines might  get  out,  or,  if  already  out,  get 


288  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

back.  A  new  American  invention  came  to  the 
notice  of  the  Bureau  of  Ordnance,  where  its 
possibilities  were  quickly  perceived.  A  few 
quiet  but  searching  experiments  developed  it 
into  a  mine  of  more  promising  effectiveness  than 
any  ever  used  before,  especially  against  sub- 
marines. This  gave  the  United  States  Navy 
the  definite  means  to  offer  an  anti-submarine 
barrage,  on  the  German  coast  or  elsewhere,  and 
the  result  was  the  northern  mine-barrage  in 
the  North  Sea,  stretching  from  the  Orkneys 
230  miles  to  Norway,  which  the  Secretary  of 
the  Navy's  annual  report  characterizes  as  "the 
outstanding  anti-submarine  offensive  product  of 
of  the  year." 

Manufacture  of  the  mines  in  this  country — 
they  were  of  the  non-sweepable  variety — had 
been  going  on  since  December,  1917.  The 
many  parts  were  constructed  by  the  thousands 
by  numerous  different  contractors,  who  de- 
livered them  at  Norfolk,  where  the  mine 
spheres  were  charged  with  300  pounds  of  TNT, 
and  loaded  into  steamers,  managed  by  the 
Naval  Overseas  Transport  Service.  It  re- 
quired twenty -four  steamers,  running  constant- 


SOWING  OF  THE   GREAT  MINE   FIELD     289 

ly,  to  keep  the  ten  mine-planters  supplied  with 
mines.  Only  one  fell  a  victim  to  a  sub- 
marine. 

Our  mine  squadron  arrived  at  Inverness 
May  26,  1918,  and  twelve  days  later  started 
on  its  first  mine-planting  "excursion."  On 
this  excursion,  June  7,  the  squadron  planted  a 
mine  field  47  miles  long,  containing  3,400  mines, 
in  three  hours  and  thirty-six  minutes.  One 
ship  emptied  herself  of  675  mines  without  a 
single  break,  1  mine  every  eleven  and  one-half 
seconds  through  more  than  two  hours,  the 
longest  series  ever  planted  anywhere. 

On  the  seventh  excursion,  August  26,  the 
commander  of  the  mine  force,  Rear-Admiral 
Strauss,  U.  S.  N.,  went  out,  and  on  the  next, 
by  the  American  and  British  squadrons  to- 
gether, he  was  in  command  of  them  both,  on 
the  San  Francisco.  The  mine  field  on  this  oc- 
casion closed  the  western  end  of  the  barrier  off 
the  Orkneys,  making  it  complete  across.  Of 
the  ninth  excursion  Rear-Admiral  Clinton- 
Bak^er,  R.  N.,  was  in  command.  Altogether  the 
American  squadron  made  fifteen  excursions,  the 
British  squadron  eleven,  and  when  the  barrage 


290  OUR  NAVY  m  THE  "WAR 

was  finished,  at  the  end  of  October,  70,100 
mines  in  all  had  been  planted  in  it,  of  which 
56,570  were  American.  The  barrier  stretched 
from  off  the  northern  Orkney  Islands,  230  miles, 
to  the  coast  of  Norway,  near  Bergen.  Its  width 
averaged  25  miles,  nowhere  less  than  15  miles 
— more  than  an  hour's  run  for  a  submarine. 

The  barrage  began  to  yield  results  early  in 
July,  and  from  time  to  time  reports  would  come 
of  submarines  damaged  or  disappearing.  It 
may  never  be  known  definitely  how  many 
actually  did  come  to  grief  there,  but  the  best 
information  gives  a  probable  ten  before  the 
middle  of  October,  with  a  final  total  of  seven- 
teen or  more.  In  addition  the  squadron  should 
be  credited  with  two  submarines  lost  in  the 
field  of  British  mines  laid  by  the  U.  S.  S.  Balti- 
more, off  the  Irish  coast. 

In  summing  up  the  work  of  the  navy  through- 
out the  war  one  month  after  the  armistice  had 
been  signed,  Secretary  Daniels  paid  the  high- 
est tribute  to  the  widely  recognized  efficiency 
of  Vice-Admiral  Sims;  he  had  also  superlative 
praise  for  Rear-Admiral  Rodman,  who  com- 
manded our  battleships  attached  to  the  Grand 


EXTENT  OF  OUR  NAVY  IN  EUROPE  291 

Fleet;  for  Vice-Admiral  Wilson,  commanding 
our  forces  in  French  waters;  for  Rear-Admiral 
Niblack,  our  Mediterranean  commander,  Rear- 
Admiral  Dunn  in  the  Azores,  and  Rear-Admiral 
Strauss  in  charge  of  mining  operations. 

When  the  fighting  ended  our  force  in  European 
waters  comprised  338  vessels,  with  75,000  men 
and  officers,  a  force  larger  than  the  entire  navy 
before  the  war.  The  navy,  in  its  operations, 
covered  the  widest  scope  in  its  history;  naval 
men  served  on  nearly  2,000  craft  that  plied  the 
waters — on  submarines,  and  in  aviation,  while 
on  land,  marines  and  sailors  helped  to  hold 
strategic  points.  The  regiments  of  marines 
shared  with  the  magnificent  army  their  part  of 
the  hard -won  victory;  wonderfully  trained  gun- 
crews of  sailors  manned  the  monster  14-inch 
guns — which  marked  a  new  departure  in  land 
warfare — while  naval  officers  and  men  in  all 
parts  of  the  world  did  their  full  part  in  the 
operations  which  mark  the  heroic  year  of  ac- 
complishment. 

While  the  destroyers  led  in  the  anti-submarine 
warfare,  the  406  submarine  chasers,  of  which 
335  were  despatched  abroad,  should  have  credit 


292  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

for  efficient  aid,  also  the  American  submarines 
sent  to  foreign  waters. 

The  transportation  of  2,000,000  American 
troops  3,000  miles  overseas,  with  the  loss  of 
only  a  few  hundred  lives,  and  without  the  loss 
of  a  single  American  troopship  on  the  way  to 
France,  was  an  unparalleled  achievement.  From 
a  small  beginning  this  fleet  expanded  to  24 
cruisers  and  42  transports,  manned  by  3,000 
officers  and  41,000  men,  these  being  augmented 
by  4  French  men-of-war  and  13  foreign  mer- 
chant vessels,  a  grand  total  of  83  ships.  In  spite 
of  the  constant  menace  of  submarines,  only  3 
of  these  troopships  were  lost — the  Antilles, 
Lincoln,  and  Covington.  All  were  sunk  on  the 
homeward  voyage. 

Four  naval  vessels  were  lost  as  a  result  of 
submarine  activity — the  destroyer  Jacob  Jones, 
the  converted  yacht  Alcedo,  the  coast-guard 
cutter  Tampa,  sunk  with  all  on  board,  and  the 
cruiser  San  Diego,  sunk  in  home  waters  by  strik- 
ing an  enemy  mine.  The  loss  of  the  collier 
Cyclops,  bound  for  South  America,  whose  dis- 
appearance is  one  of  the  unsolved  mysteries  of 
the  seas,  will  probably  never  be  explained. 


FOURTEEN-INCH    NAVAL    GUNS        293 

The  notable  achievements  in  naval  ordnance, 
especially  the  work  of  the  14 -inch  naval  guns 
on  railway  mounts  on  the  western  front,  which 
hurled  shells  far  behind  the  German  lines,  have 
received  adequate  recognition  from  Allied  au- 
thorities. These  mounts  were  designed  and 
completed  in  four  months.  The  land  battery 
of  these  naval  guns  was  manned  exclusively  by 
bluejackets,  under  command  of  Rear- Admiral 
C.  P.  Plunkett,  and  work  of  the  Bureau  of  Ord- 
nance was  conducted  by  Admiral  Early,  the 
chief  of  the  bureau,  one  of  our  "ablest  and  fit- 
test" officers. 


CHAPTER  XVII 

LESSONS  OF  THE  WAR — THE  SUBMARINE  NOT  REALLY  A 
SUBMARINE — FRENCH  TERM  FOR  UNDERSEA  FIGHTER — 
THE  SUCCESS  OF  THE  CONVOY  AGAINST  SUBMERSIBLES — 
U-BOATS  NOT  SUCCESSFUL  AGAINST  SURFACE  FIGHTERS — 
THEIR  SHORTCOMINGS — WHAT  THE  SUBMARINE  NEEDS 

TO  BE  A  VITAL  FACTOR  IN  SEA  POWER THEIR  SHOWING 

AGAINST  CONVOYED  CRAFT — RECORD  OF  OUR  NAVY  IN 
CONVOYING  AND  PROTECTING  CONVOYS — SECRETARY  DAN- 
IBLS'S  REPORT 

TV  T AVAL  scientists  learned  much  as  a  result 
•*-  ^  of  this  war,  but  contrary  to  popular 
theory  the  events  of  the  four  and  a  half  years 
strengthened  belief  in  the  battleship  as  the  de- 
ciding element  in  sea  power.  The  submarine 
was  frightful,  and  did  a  vast  amount  of  harm, 
but  not  so  much  as  one  might  think.  Against 
surface  fighters  it  was  not  remarkably  effective; 
indeed  the  war  proved  that  the  submarine's  only 
good  chance  against  a  battleship  or  cruiser  was 
to  lurk  along  some  lane  which  the  big  surface 
craft  was  known  to  be  following,  and  strike  her 
quickly  in  the  dark.  Within  effective  torpedo 
range  a  periscope,  day  or  night,  is  visible  to 
keen-eyed  watchers,  and  all  told  not  a  dozen 


LESSONS    OF    THE    WAR  295 

British  and  American  sea  fighters,  of  whatever 
class,  were  sunk  as  a  result  of  submarine  attack. 

In  the  battle  of  Heligoland  Bight  early  in  the 
war,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  a  squadron  of  British 
battleships  passed  right  through  a  nest  of  sub- 
marines and  were  not  harmed.  The  most  spec- 
tacular submarine  success,  the  sinking  of  the 
three  fine  cruisers,  Aboukir  and  Cressy  and 
Hawke,  was  the  result  of  an  attack  delivered 
upon  unsuspecting  craft,  which  were  lying  at  an- 
chor, or  at  all  events  under  deliberate  headway. 
The  American  Navy,  as  already  pointed  out, 
lost  the  Jacob  Jones,  a  destroyer,  the  coast 
cutter  Tampa,  and  the  Alcedo,  together  with 
one  or  two  smaller  craft,  but  that  is  all. 

It  will  surprise  many  when  the  statement  is 
made  that,  of  all  the  Atlantic  convoys,  east  or 
west  bound,  in  the  four  years  of  the  war, 
aggregating  a  gross  tonnage  of  some  eighty- 
odd  millions,  only  654,288  tons  were  lost 
through  submarine  attack,  considerably  less 
than  1  per  cent  of  the  total  tonnage  crossing  the 
war  zone  during  the  war — 0.83  per  cent,  to  be 
exact.  Here  are  some  specific  figures: 

Atlantic  convoys  between  July  26,  1917,  and 


296  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

October  15,  1918,  a  total  of  1,027  convoys, 
comprising  14,968  ships  east  and  west  bound, 
were  carried  with  a  loss  of  118  ships — 0.79  of 
1  per  cent. 

For  all  seas,  85,772  vessels,  433  lost— 0.51 
per  cent. 

It  really  boils  down  to  the  fact  that  the  great- 
est feat  of  the  submarine  was  hi  its  success  in 
slowing  up  oversea  freight  traffic  and  in  keeping 
neutral  freighters  in  port.  In  this  respect  the 
submarine  most  certainly  was  dangerously  per- 
nicious. But  as  a  positive  agency,  as  said,  the  un- 
dersea craft  was  not  a  decisive  factor  in  the  war. 

All  of  which,  most  naturally,  is  a  graphic 
commentary  upon  the  inadequacy  of  the  sub- 
marine as  a  check  to  the  manifestations  of  sea 
power.  In  truth,  there  is  a  vast  deal  of  pop- 
ular misconception  about  the  submarine,  a 
name  which  is  really  a  misnomer.  The  French 
are  more  precise  in  their  term,  a  submersible; 
for,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  the  submarine,  or  sub- 
mersible, is  in  essence  a  surface  craft  which  is 
able  to  descend  beneath  the  water,  proceeding 
thus  for  a  limited  time. 

The  amount  of  time  which  a  submersible  may 


SUBMARINE  NOT  A  SUBMARINE        297 

run  beneath  the  waves  depends  upon  her  speed. 
The  best  of  the  German  undersea  boats,  it  has 
been  estimated,  could  not  remain  under  more 
than  three  hours  at  high  speed.  They  then  had 
to  come  up,  as  the  navy  saying  has  it,  for  "more 
juice."  To  be  more  explicit,  a  submersible  has 
a  mechanical  process,  a  combination  motor  and 
dynamo  between  the  engine,  which  drives  the 
boat  when  it  is  on  the  surface,  and  the  thrust 
block  through  which  the  shaft  runs  to  the  pro- 
peller. This  motor-dynamo,  serving  as  a  motor, 
drives  the  boat  when  she  is  beneath  the  water. 
When  the  electric  power  is  exhausted  the  boat 
comes  to  the  surface,  the  motor  is  disconnected 
from  the  shaft  and  is  run  as  a  dynamo  gener- 
ating power.  Twelve  hours  are  required  in 
which  to  produce  the  amount  of  electricity  re- 
quired for  use  when  the  vessel  next  submerges. 
Thus,  a  great  proportion  of  the  time  the  sub- 
marine is  a  surface  craft. 

Again,  there  are  important  defects  in  the  lead 
battery  system,  which  was  generally  used  in 
the  war.  First  of  all,  they  are  very  heavy,  and 
secondly  the  sulphuric  acid  in  the  containers  is 
liable  to  escape — in  fact,  does  escape — when  the 


298  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

boat  rolls  heavily.  Sulphuric  acid  mingling 
with  salt  water  in  the  bilges  produces  a  chlorine 
gas,  which,  as  every  one  knows,  is  most  deadly. 
Not  only  this:  the  acid  eats  out  the  steel  plates 
of  a  hull. 

There  is  talk  of  using  dry  batteries,  but  these 
are  heavy,  too,  and  there  are  evils  arising  from 
their  use  which  have  made  the  lead  batteries, 
objectionable  though  they  may  be,  preferable 
in  a  great  majority  of  cases.  The  British  have 
a  type  of  submersible  propelled  on  the  surface 
by  steam. 

The  Peace  Conference  at  this  writing  is 
talking  of  the  advisability  of  eliminating  the 
submarine  as  a  weapon  of  war.  Whether  by 
the  time  this  is  read  such  action  will  have  been 
taken,  the  fact  remains  that  before  the  sub- 
marine could  hope  to  approach  in  formidability 
the  surface  fighter,  she  will  have  to  experience 
a  development  which  at  the  present  time  has 
not  been  attained.  The  vital  need  seems  to  be 
a  single  propulsive  agency  for  progress  on  the 
surface  and  when  submerged. 

An  interesting  table  showing  the  success  of 
the  convoy  system  is  herewith  presented: 


SUCCESS  OF  THE  CONVOY 


299 


Convoy              Atlantic  convoys 
Homeward 

No.  of 
convoys 

No.  of  mer- 
chant ships 

Losses  in 
convoy 

P.  C. 

North  Atlantic  

306 
133 
105 

22 

5,416 
1,979 
944 
307 

40 
30 
6 

1 

0.74 
1.5 
0.64 
0.32 

Gibraltar  

West  African  ports  

Rio  de  Janeiro  

Total  

566 
508 

8,646 

7,110 

6,475 
3,923 
37,221 
10,275 
12,122 

77 

45 

75 
16 
53 
127 

40 

0.89 

0.63 

1.15 

0.41 
0.14 
1.24 
0.33 

Outward 
Various    sailings    from    British 
ports  

Other  Convoys 
Scandinavian  (old  system)  

Scandinavian  (new  system)  
French  coal  trade  

Local  Mediterranean  

East  Coast  

Grand  total  

85,772 

433 

0.51 

STATEMENT  OF  SHIPS  IN  ORGANIZED  ATLANTIC  CONVOYS 
July  26,  1917-October  5,  1918 

SHIPS 

Homeward 
bound 

Outward 
bound 

Total 

Convoys  

539 
8,194 
74 
0.9 

488 
6,774 
44 
0.65 

1,027 
14,968 
118 
0.79 

Ships  convoyed  

Casualties  

Per  cent  of  casualties  

TONNAGES 

(GROSS  DEADWEIGHT) 

Homeward 
bound 

Outward 
bound 

Total 

Convoyed  

59,062,200 
510,600 
0.86 

47,491,950 
378,100 
0.8 

106,554,150 
888,700 
0.83 

Lost  

Per  cent  of  losses  

Convoyed  

(GROSS  TONNAGE) 

43,196,740 
364,842 
0.84 

33,860.491 
289,446 
0.85 

77,057,231 
654,288 
0.85 

Lost  

Per  cent  of  losses  

NOTE. — The  above  figures  and  the  casualties  only  refer  to  convoys 
which  reached  their  destination  on  or  before  October  5,  1918,  and  do 
not  include  convoys  en  route  at  that  date. 


300  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

Fifteen  cargo  ships  with  a  deadweight  ton- 
nage of  103,692,  were  lost  during  1918  by  the 
Naval  Overseas  Transportation  Service.  The 
removal  of  the  ban  of  secrecy,  vital  during  the 
war  as  a  protection  to  vessels  and  their  crews, 
discloses  that  6  ships,  aggregating  42,627  tons, 
were  destroyed  by  enemy  activity,  5  vessels, 
representing  a  tonnage  of  44,071  tons,  were 
sunk  in  collisions,  and  4  vessels,  totalling  16,994 
tons,  were  destroyed  by  fire  and  explosion. 
Seventy-two  ships  were  originally  assigned  to 
this  service  late  in  1917,  and  when  the  armistice 
was  signed,  November  11,  1918,  the  cargo  fleet 
numbered  453  vessels,  including  106  ships  ready 
to  be  taken  over. 

Crews  of  naval  cargo  ships  faced  many  perils, 
including  the  menace  of  an  unseen  foe,  the 
danger  of  collision,  and  the  liability  to  death 
by  accidents  from  inflammable  cargoes. 

Not  only  were  these  crews  confronted  with 
the  normal  perils  of  the  sea,  says  the  report, 
but  they  faced  destruction  from  torpedo,  col- 
lision, and  other  unforeseen  accidents  that  might 
cause  fire  in  inflammable  cargoes.  It  took 
brave  men  to  steam  week  in  and  week  out 


SUCCESS  OF  THE  CONVOY  301 

through  submarine  and  mine  infested  waters 
at  eight  knots  an  hour  in  a  ship  loaded  with 
several  thousand  tons  of  depth  charges,  TNT, 
or  poison  gas,  not  knowing  what  minute  the 
entire  vessel  was  going  to  be  blown  to  match- 
wood. 

It  is  on  record  that  a  convoy  of  fifty  ships 
from  New  York  was  disintegrated  by  a  violent 
storm  in  mid-Atlantic,  and  that  only  two  of  the 
number  reached  France  under  convoy.  "Every 
ship  for  herself,"  the  forty-eight  others  by  luck, 
pluck,  and  constant  vigil,  all  finally  dropped 
their  anchors  in  the  protected  harbors  of  their 
destination. 

The  value  of  a  cargo  ship  is  realized  when  it 
is  known  that  under  existing  war  conditions 
each  ship  cost  to  operate  $100  every  hour. 
Good,  bad,  and  indifferent  ships,  old  or  new, 
fast  or  slow,  were  transformed  into  serviceable 
craft.  The  personnel  of  the  Naval  Overseas 
Transportation  Service  at  the  time  of  the  arm- 
istice included  5,000  officers  and  45,000  enlisted 
men. 

The  world  has  been  so  deeply  occupied  with 
figures  and  facts  relating  to  the  havoc  by  the 


OUR  NAVY  IN  THE   WAR 

German  submarine  that  little  thought  has  been 
centred  upon  the  work  of  the  Allied  submersi- 
bles.  Yet  in  the  way  of  accounting  for  war- 
ships one  may  fancy  that  they  rivalled  the 
Teutonic  craft.  Details  may  be  given  of  the 
part  which  British  submarines  played  during 
the  war.  This  service  destroyed  2  battleships, 
2  armed  cruisers,  2  light  cruisers,  7  destroyers, 
5  gunboats,  20  submarines,  and  5  armed  aux- 
iliary vessels.  In  addition  3  battleships  and 
1  light  cruiser  were  torpedoed,  but  reached 
port  badly  damaged.  One  Zeppelin  also  got 
back  to  port  badly  damaged  after  having  been 
attacked  by  a  submarine. 

Other  enemy  craft  destroyed  by  British  sub- 
marines were  14  transports,  6  ammunition  and 
supply  ships,  2  store  ships,  53  steamships, 
and  197  sailing  ships.  In  no  case  was  a  mer- 
chant ship  sunk  at  sight.  Care  was  taken  to 
see  that  the  crews  of  all  vessels  got  safely  away. 

In  addition  to  carrying  out  their  attacks  on 
enemy  war-craft,  the  submarines  played  an 
important  part  in  convoy  work.  In  the  third 
year  of  the  war  one  of  the  British  submarine 
commanders  carried  out  24  cruises,  totalling 


WORK  OF  OUR  SUBMARINES  303 

22,000  miles,  which  probably  constitutes  a 
record  for  any  submarine.  In  the  first  and 
second  years  of  the  war  7  British  submarine 
commanders  carried  out  a  total  of  120  cruises, 
extending  for  350  days,  all  of  which  were  actu- 
ally spent  in  the  enemy  theatre. 

Our  submarines,  too,  acquitted  themselves 
nobly  on  the  other  side,  and  when  the  story  of 
the  navy's  activities  is  finally  presented  by 
Mr.  Daniels,  we  shall  have  in  our  possession 
details  not  now  to  be  printed.  We  may,  how- 
ever, say  that  battles,  submarine  against  sub- 
marine, have  not  been  unknown  in  the  war 
zone;  the  fact  that  in  addition  to  moving  ahead 
or  astern  the  submarine  has  also  the  power  of 
dodging  up  and  down  complicated  these  fights 
in  many  interesting  ways. 

There  has  been,  too,  a  great  deal  of  misap- 
prehension concerning  the  relative  showing  of 
the  United  States  and  Great  Britain  in  convey- 
ing our  soldiers  to  the  theatre  of  war.  At  one 
time  in  the  war,  it  is  true,  the  British  were 
carrying  considerably  more  than  half  of  our 
soldiers,  but  in  the  latter  stages  our  transport 
service  made  gigantic  strides,  so  that  now  the 


304  OUR  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR 

total  of  percentages  is  such  as  to  enlist  our 
pride.  According  to  figures  issued  from  the 
office  of  Admiral  Gleaves,  in  charge  of  oversea 
transport  for  our  navy,  of  the  2,079,880  Ameri- 
can troops  transported  overseas,  46^  per  cent 
were  carried  in  American  ships,  manned  by 
Americans;  48J^  per  cent  in  British  vessels, 
and  the  small  balance  in  French  and  Italian 
craft.  Of  the  total  strength  of  the  naval  escort 
guarding  these  convoys  the  United  States  fur- 
nished 82%  per  cent,  Great  Britain  14^  per  cent, 
and  France  2>^  per  cent. 

Figures  giving  some  idea  of  the  records  at- 
tained by  convoys  carrying  our  soldiers  may 
now  be  presented,  and  they  are  immensely  in- 
teresting. In  the  three  months  of  July,  August, 
and  September  of  1918,  7  American  soldiers 
with  equipment  arrived  every  minute  of  the  day 
and  night  in  England  or  France.  The  banner 
month  was  July,  when  317,000  American  sol- 
diers were  safely  landed.  In  September,  311,219 
American  troops,  4,000  American  sailors,  and 
5,000  Canadians  were  successfully  transported 
across  the  Atlantic.  The  largest  single  convoy 
of  this  month  carried  to  France  31,108,  and  to 


305 

England  28,873.  Of  the  troops  transported  in 
this  month  American  vessels  carried  121,547; 
British  vessels  175,721,  and  French  13,951. 

All  in  all,  in  patrol,  in  convoy  duty,  in  actual 
combat,  our  navy  in  the  war  accomplished  with 
utter  precision  a  stupendous  task,  a  task  of 
multifarious  phases — all  performed  in  that  clean- 
cut,  vigorous,  courageous,  painstaking,  large- 
minded  way  which  we,  throughout  all  the  years, 
have  been  proud  to  regard  as  typical  of  the 
American  Navy. 


SECRETARY  DANIELS'S  REPORT 


SECRETARY  DANIELS'S  REPORT  OP  THE   AC- 
TIVITIES OF  THE  NAVY  IN  THE  WAR* 

The  operations  of  our  navy  during  the  world  war  have 
covered  the  widest  scope  in  its  history.  Our  naval  forces 
have  operated  in  European  waters  from  the  Mediter- 
ranean to  the  White  Sea.  At  Corfu,  Gibraltar,  along  the 
French  Bay  of  Biscay  ports,  at  the  English  Channel  ports, 
on  the  Irish  Coast,  in  the  North  Sea,  at  Murmansk  and 
Archangel  our  naval  forces  have  been  stationed  and  have 
done  creditable  work.  Their  performance  will  probably 
form  the  most  interesting  and  exciting  portion  of  the 
naval  history  of  this  war,  and  it  is  the  duty  which  has 
been  most  eagerly  sought  by  all  of  the  personnel,  but 
owing  to  the  character  of  the  operations  which  our  navy 
has  been  called  upon  to  take  part  in  it  has  not  been  pos- 
sible for  all  of  our  naval  forces,  much  as  they  desired  it, 
to  engage  in  operations  at  the  front,  and  a  large  part  of 
our  work  has  been  conducted  quietly,  but  none  the  less 
effectively,  in  other  areas.  This  service,  while  not  so 
brilliant,  has  still  been  necessary,  and  without  it  our 
forces  at  the  front  could  not  have  carried  on  the  success- 
ful campaign  that  they  did. 

Naval  men  have  served  on  nearly  2,000  craft  that  plied 
the  waters,  on  submarines,  and  in  aviation,  where  men  of 

*  Josephus  Daniels,  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  issued  an  official  report 
on  December  8,  1918,  in  which  he  presented  the  following  full  account 
of  the  work  of  the  navy  during  the  war. 

309 


310        SECRETARY  DANIELS'S  REPORT 

vision  and  courage  prevent  surprise  attacks  and  fight  with 
new-found  weapons.  On  the  land,  marines  and  sailors 
have  helped  to  hold  strategic  points,  regiments  of  marines 
have  shared  with  the  army  their  part  of  the  hard-won 
victory,  and  a  wonderfully  trained  gun  crew  of  sailors  has 
manned  the  monster  14-inch  guns  which  marked  a  new 
departure  in  land  warfare. 

In  diplomacy,  in  investigation  at  home  and  in  all  parts 
of  the  world  by  naval  officers  and  civilian  agents,  in  pro- 
tecting plants  and  labor  from  spies  and  enemies,  in  pro- 
moting new  industrial  organizations  and  enlarging  older 
ones  to  meet  war  needs,  in  stimulating  production  of 
needed  naval  craft — these  are  some  of  the  outstanding 
operations  which  mark  the  heroic  year  of  accomplish- 
ment. 

FIGHTING  CRAFT 

The  employment  of  the  fighting  craft  of  the  navy  may 
be  summed  up  as  follows: 

1.  Escorting  troop  and  cargo  convoys  and  other  special 
vessels. 

2.  Carrying    out    offensive    and    defensive    measures 
against  enemy  submarines  in  the  Western  Atlantic. 

3.  Assignment  to  duty  and  the  despatch  abroad  of 
naval  vessels  for  operations  in  the  war  zone  in  conjunc- 
tion with  the  naval  forces  of  our  allies. 

4.  Assignment  to  duty  and  operation  of  naval  vessels 
to  increase  the  force  in  home  waters.     Despatch  abroad 
of  miscellaneous  craft  for  the  army. 

5.  Protection  of  these  craft  en  route. 

6.  Protection  of  vessels  engaged  in  coastwise  trade. 

7.  Salvaging  and  assisting  vessels  in  distress,  whether 
from  maritime  causes  or  from  the  operations  of  the  enemy. 


SECRETARY  DANIELS'S  REPORT        311 

8.  Protection  of  oil  supplies  from  the  Gulf. 

In  order  to  cany  out  successfully  and  speedily  all  these 
duties  large  increases  in  personnel,  in  ships  of  all  classes 
and  in  the  instrumentalities  needed  for  their  production 
and  service  were  demanded.  Briefly,  then,  it  may  be 
stated  that  on  the  day  war  was  declared  the  enlistment 
and  enrollment  of  the  navy  numbered  65,777  men.  On 
the  day  Germany  signed  the  armistice  it  had  increased 
to  497,030  men  and  women,  for  it  became  necessary  to 
enroll  capable  and  patriotic  women  as  yeomen  to  meet 
the  sudden  expansion  and  enlarged  duties  imposed  by 
war  conditions.  This  expansion  has  been  progressive. 
In  1912  there  were  3,094  officers  and  47,515  enlisted  men; 
by  July  1,  1916,  the  number  had  grown  to  4,293  officers 
and  54,234  enlisted  men,  and  again  in  that  year  to  68,700 
in  all.  In  granting  the  increase  Congress  authorized  the 
President  in  his  discretion  to  augment  that  force  to  87,800. 
Immediately  on  the  outbreak  of  the  war  the  navy  was 
recruited  to  that  strength,  but  it  was  found  that  under 
the  provisions  of  our  laws  there  were  not  sufficient  offi- 
cers in  the  upper  grades  of  the  navy  to  do  the  war  work. 
At  the  same  time  the  lessons  of  the  war  showed  it  was  im- 
possible to  have  the  combatant  ships  of  the  navy  ready 
for  instant  war  service  unless  the  ships  had  their  full  per- 
sonnel on  board  and  that  personnel  was  highly  trained. 

In  addition  to  this  permanent  strength  recourse  was 
had  to  the  development  of  the  existing  reserves  and  to 
the  creation  of  a  new  force. 

NAVAL  VOLUNTEERS 

Up  to  1913  the  only  organization  that  made  any  pre- 
tense of  training  men  for  the  navy  was  the  Naval  Militia, 


312        SECRETARY  DANIELS'S  REPORT 

and  that  was  under  State  control,  with  practically  no 
Federal  supervision.  As  the  militia  seemed  to  offer  the 
only  means  of  producing  a  trained  reserve,  steps  were  at 
once  taken  to  put  it  on  a  sound  basis,  and  on  February 
16,  1914,  a  real  Naval  Militia  under  Federal  control  was 
created,  provision  being  made  for  its  organization  and 
training  in  peace,  as  well  as  its  utilization  in  war.  As 
with  all  organized  militia,  the  Naval  Militia,  even  with 
the  law  of  1914,  could  not,  under  the  Constitution,  be 
called  into  service  as  such  except  for  limited  duties,  such 
as  to  repel  invasion.  It  could  not  be  used  outside  the 
territorial  limits  of  the  United  States.  It  is  evident,  then, 
that  with  such  restrictions  militia  could  hardly  meet  the 
requirements  of  the  navy  in  a  foreign  war,  and  to  over- 
come this  difficulty  the  "National  Naval  Volunteers" 
were  created  in  August,  1916. 

Under  this  act  members  of  Naval  Militia  organizations 
were  authorized  to  volunteer  for  "any  emergency,"  of 
which  emergency  the  President  was  to  be  the  judge. 
Other  laws  included  the  same  measure,  provided  for  a 
reserve  force,  for  the  automatic  increase  of  officer  per- 
sonnel in  each  corps  to  correspond  with  increases  in  en- 
listed men,  and  for  the  Naval  Flying  Corps,  special  en- 
gineering officers,  and  the  Naval  Dental  and  Dental 
Reserve  Corps.  It  also  provided  for  taking  over  the 
lighthouse  and  other  departmental  divisions  by  the  navy 
in  time  of  war.  Briefly,  then,  on  July  1,  1917,  three 
months  after  the  declaration  of  war,  the  number  of  offi- 
cers had  increased  to  8,038 — 4,694  regulars,  3,344  reserves 
— and  the  number  of  enlisted  men  to  171,133—128,666 
regulars,  32,379  reserves,  10,088  National  Naval  Volun- 
teers. The  increase  since  that  time  is  as  follows: 


SECRETARY  DANIELS'S  REPORT 


313 


April  1,  1918 

Officers 

Men 

Regular  Navy 
Permanent  

5,441 

198,224 

Temporary  

2,519 

Reserves  

10,625 

85,475 

Total  

18,585 

283,717 

November  9,  1918 

Regular  Navy 
Permanent  

5,656 

206,684 

Temporary  

4,833 

Reserves  

21,985 

290,346 

Total  

32,474 

497,030 

THE  NAVY  THAT  FLIES 

The  expansion  of  aviation  in  the  navy  has  been  of 
gratifying  proportions  and  effectiveness.  On  July  1, 
1917,  naval  aviation  was  still  in  its  infancy.  At  that 
time  there  were  only  45  naval  aviators.  There  were 
officers  of  the  navy,  Marine  Corps,  and  Coast  Guard  who 
had  been  given  special  training  in  and  were  attached  to 
aviation.  There  were  approximately  200  student  offi- 
cers under  training,  and  about  1,250  enlisted  men  attached 
to  the  Aviation  Service.  These  enlisted  men  were  as- 
signed to  the  three  naval  air  stations  in  this  country  then 
in  commission.  Pensacola,  Fla.,  had  about  1,000  men, 
Bay  Shore,  Long  Island,  N.  Y.,  had  about  100,  and  Squan- 
tum,  Mass.,  which  was  abandoned  in  the  fall  of  1917, 
had  about  150  men.  On  July  1,  1918,  there  were  823 
naval  aviators,  approximately  2,052  student  officers,  and 
400  ground  officers  attached  to  naval  aviation.  In  addi- 


314        SECRETARY  DANIELS'S  REPORT 

tion,  there  were  more  than  7,300  trained  mechanics,  and 
more  than  5,400  mechanics  in  training.  The  total  en- 
listed and  commissioned  personnel  at  this  time  was  about 
30,000. 

THE  SHIPS 

On  the  day  war  was  declared  197  ships  were  in  com- 
mission. To-day  there  are  2,003.  In  addition  to  fur- 
nishing all  these  ships  with  trained  officers  and  men,  the 
duty  of  supplying  crews  and  officers  of  the  growing  mer- 
chant marine  was  undertaken  by  the  navy.  There  has 
not  been  a  day  when  the  demand  for  men  for  these  ships 
has  not  been  supplied — how  fit  they  were  all  the  world 
attests — and  after  manning  the  merchant  ships  there  has 
not  been  a  time  when  provision  was  not  made  for  the 
constantly  increasing  number  of  ships  taken  over  by  the 
navy. 

During  the  year  the  energy  available  for  new  construc- 
tion was  concentrated  mainly  upon  vessels  to  deal  with 
the  submarine  menace.  Three  hundred  and  fifty-five  of 
the  110-foot  wooden  submarine  chasers  were  completed 
during  the  year.  Fifty  of  these  were  taken  over  by 
France  and  50  more  for  France  were  ordered  during  the 
year  and  have  been  completed  since  July  1,  1918.  Forty- 
two  more  were  ordered  about  the  end  of  the  fiscal  year, 
delivery  to  begin  in  November  and  be  completed  in 
January. 

Extraordinary  measures  were  taken  with  reference  to 
destroyers.  By  the  summer  of  1917  destroyer  orders  had 
been  placed  which  not  only  absorbed  all  available  capacity 
for  more  than  a  year,  but  required  a  material  expansion 
of  existing  facilities.  There  were  under  construction,  or 


SECRETARY  DANIELS'S  REPORT        315 

on  order,  in  round  figures,  100  of  the  thirty-five-knot 
type. 

During  the  year,  including  orders  placed  at  navy  yards, 
the  following  have  been  contracted  for:  Four  battleships, 
1  battle  cruiser,  2  fuel  ships,  1  transport,  1  gunboat,  1 
ammunition  ship,  223  destroyers,  58  submarines,  112 
fabricated  patrol  vessels  (including  12  for  the  Italian 
Government),  92  submarine  chasers  (including  50  for  the 
French  Government),  51  mine-sweepers,  25  seagoing  tugs 
and  46  harbor  tugs,  besides  a  large  number  of  lighters, 
barges,  and  other  auxiliary  harbor  craft.  In  addition  to 
this,  contracts  have  been  placed  for  12  large  fuel  ships  in 
conjunction  with  the  Emergency  Fleet  Corporation. 

Ships  launched  during  the  year  and  up  to  October  1, 
1918,  include  1  gunboat,  93  destroyers,  29  submarines, 
26  mine-sweepers,  4  fabricated  patrol  vessels,  and  2  sea- 
going tugs.  It  is  noteworthy  that  in  the  first  nine  months 
of  1918  there  were  launched  no  less  than  83  destroyers 
of  98,281  tons  aggregate  normal  displacement,  as  com- 
pared with  62  destroyers  of  58,285  tons  during  the  entire 
nine  years  next  preceding  January  1,  1918. 

There  have  been  added  to  the  navy  during  the  fiscal 
year  and  including  the  three  months  up  to  October  1, 
1918,  2  battleships,  36  destroyers,  28  submarines,  355  sub- 
marine chasers,  13  mine-sweepers  and  2  seagoing  tugs. 
There  have  also  been  added  to  the  operating  naval  forces 
by  purchase,  charter,  etc.,  many  hundred  vessels  of  com- 
mercial type,  including  all  classes  from  former  German 
transatlantic  liners  to  harbor  tugboats  and  motorboats 
for  auxiliary  purposes. 

Last  year  the  construction  of  capital  ships  and  large 
vessels  generally  had  been  to  some  extent  suspended. 
Work  continued  upon  vessels  which  had  already  made 


316        SECRETARY  DANIELS'S  REPORT 

material  progress  toward  completion,  but  was  practically 
suspended  upon  those  which  had  just  been  begun,  or 
whose  keels  had  not  yet  been  laid.  The  act  of  July  1, 
1918,  required  work  to  be  actually  begun  upon  the  re- 
maining vessels  of  the  three-year  programme  within  a 
year.  This  has  all  been  planned  and  no  difficulty  in 
complying  with  the  requirements  of  the  act  and  pushing 
rapidly  the  construction  of  the  vessels  in  question  is 
anticipated.  Advantage  has  been  taken  of  the  delay  to 
introduce  into  the  designs  of  the  vessels  which  had  not 
been  laid  down  numerous  improvements  based  upon  war 
experience. 

WORK  OVERSEAS 

War  was  declared  on  April  6,  1917.  On  the  4th  of 
May  a  division  of  destroyers  was  in  European  waters. 
By  January  1,  1918,  there  were  113  United  States  naval 
ships  across,  and  in  October,  1918,  the  total  had  reached 
338  ships  of  all  classes.  At  the  present  time  there  are 
5,000  officers  and  70,000  enlisted  men  of  the  navy  serving 
in  Europe,  this  total  being  greater  than  the  full  strength 
of  the  navy  when  the  United  States  entered  the  war. 
The  destroyers  upon  their  first  arrival  were  based  on 
Queenstown,  which  has  been  the  base  of  the  operations 
of  these  best  fighters  of  the  submarines  during  the  war. 
Every  facility  possible  was  provided  for  the  comfort  and 
recreation  of  the  officers  and  men  engaged  in  this  most 
rigorous  service. 

During  July  and  August,  1918,  3,444,012  tons  of  ship- 
ping were  escorted  to  and  from  France  by  American  escort 
vessels;  of  the  above  amount  1,577,735  tons  were  escorted 
in  and  1,864,677  tons  were  escorted  out  of  French  ports. 
Of  the  tonnage  escorted  into  French  ports  during  this 


SECRETARY  DANIELS'S  REPORT        317 

time  only  16,988  tons,  or  .009  per  cent,  were  lost  through 
enemy  action,  and  of  the  tonnage  escorted  out  from 
French  ports  only  27,858,  or  .013  per  cent,  were  lost 
through  the  same  cause.  During  the  same  period,  July 
and  August  of  this  year,  259,604  American  troops  were 
escorted  to  France  by  United  States  escort  vessels  with- 
out the  loss  of  a  single  man  through  enemy  action.  The 
particulars  in  the  above  paragraph  refer  to  United  States 
naval  forces  operating  in  the  war  zone  from  French  ports. 

During  the  same  time — July  and  August — destroyers 
based  on  British  ports  supplied  75  per  cent  of  the  escorts 
for  318  ships,  totalling  2,752,908  tons,  and  including  the 
escort  of  vessels  carrying  137,283  United  States  troops. 
The  destroyers  on  this  duty  were  at  sea  an  average  of 
67  per  cent  of  the  time,  and  were  under  way  for  a  period 
of  about  16,000  hours,  steaming  approximately  an  aggre- 
gate of  260,000  miles.  There  were  no  losses  due  to  enemy 
action. 

The  history  of  the  convoy  operations  in  which  our 
naval  forces  have  taken  part,  due  to  which  we  have  been 
able  so  successfully  to  transport  such  a  large  number  of 
our  military  forces  abroad,  and  so  many  supplies  for  the 
army,  is  a  chapter  in  itself.  It  is  probably  our  major 
operation  in  this  war,  and  will  in  the  future  stand  as  a 
monument  to  both  the  army  and  the  navy  as  the  greatest 
and  most  difficult  troop  transporting  effort  which  has 
ever  been  conducted  across  seas. 

[The  Secretary  says  the  convoy  system  was  "suggested 
by  President  Wilson."  He  continues:] 

This  entire  force,  under  command  of  Rear-Admiral 
Albert  Gleaves,  whose  ability  and  resource  have  been 
tested  and  established  in  this  great  service  in  co-operation 
with  the  destroyer  flotilla  operating  abroad,  has  devel- 


318        SECRETARY  DANDSLS'S  REPORT 

oped  an  anti-submarine  convoy  and  escort  system  the 
results  of  which  have  surpassed  even  the  most  sanguine 
expectations. 

TROOPS  CARRIED  OVERSEAS 

American  and  British  ships  have'carried  over  2,000,000 
American  troops  overseas.  The  United  States  did  not 
possess  enough  ships  to  carry  over  our  troops  as  rapidly  as 
they  were  ready  to  sail  or  as  quickly  as  they  were  needed 
in  France.  Great  Britain  furnished,  under  contract  with 
the  War  Department,  many  ships  and  safely  transported 
many  American  troops,  the  numbers  having  increased 
greatly  in  the  spring  and  summer.  A  few  troops  were 
carried  over  by  other  allied  ships.  The  actual  number 
transported  in  British  ships  was  more  than  a  million. 

Up  to  November  1,  1918,  of  the  total  number  of  United 
States  troops  in  Europe,  924,578  made  passage  in  United 
States  naval  convoys  under  escort  of  United  States 
cruisers  and  destroyers.  Since  November  1,  1917,  there 
have  been  289  sailings  of  naval  transports  from  American 
ports.  In  these  operations  of  the  cruiser  and  transport 
force  of  the  Atlantic  fleet  not  one  eastbound  American 
transport  has  been  torpedoed  or  damaged  by  the  enemy 
and  only  three  were  sunk  on  the  return  voyage. 

Our  destroyers  and  patrol  vessels,  in  addition  to  con- 
voy duty,  have  waged  an  unceasing  offensive  warfare 
against  the  submarines.  In  spite  of  all  this,  our  naval 
losses  have  been  gratify ingly  small.  Only  three  American 
troopships — the  Antilles,  the  President  Lincoln,  and  the 
Covington — were  sunk  on  the  return  voyage.  Only  three 
fighting  ships  have  been  lost  as  a  result  of  enemy  action 
— the  patrol  ship  Alcedo,  a  converted  yacht,  sunk  off  the 
coast  of  France  November  5,  1917;  the  torpedoboat 


SECRETARY  DANIELS'S  REPORT        319 

destroyer  Jacob  Jones,  sunk  off  the  British  coast  Decem- 
ber 6,  1917,  and  the  cruiser  San  Diego,  sunk  near  Fire 
Island,  off  the  New  York  coast,  on  July  19,  1918,  by 
striking  a  mine  supposedly  set  adrift  by  a  German  sub- 
marine. The  transport  Finland  and  the  destroyer  Cas- 
sin,  which  were  torpedoed,  reached  port  and  were  soon 
repaired  and  placed  back  in  service.  The  transport 
Mount  Vernon,  struck  by  a  torpedo  on  September  5  last, 
proceeded  to  port  under  its  own  steam  and  was  repaired. 
The  most  serious  loss  of  life  due  to  enemy  activity  was 
the  loss  of  the  Coast  Guard  cutter  Tampa,  with  all  on 
board,  in  Bristol  Channel,  England,  on  the  night  of  Sep- 
tember 26,  1918.  The  Tampa,  which  was  doing  escort 
duty,  had  gone  ahead  of  the  convoy.  Vessels  following 
heard  an  explosion,  but  when  they  reached  the  vicinity 
there  were  only  bits  of  floating  wreckage  to  show  where 
the  ship  had  gone  down.  Not  one  of  the  111  officers  and 
men  of  her  crew  was  rescued,  and,  though  it  is  believed 
she  was  sunk  by  a  torpedo  from  an  enemy  submarine, 
the  exact  manner  in  which  the  vessel  met  its  fate  may 
never  be  known. 

OTHER  POINTS  SUMMARIZED 

Secretary  Daniels  records  many  other  achievements  of 
ships  and  personnel,  including  those  of  the  naval  over- 
seas transportation  service.  Of  the  latter  he  says  in 
substance : 

In  ten  months  the  transportation  service  grew  from  10 
ships  to  a  fleet  of  321  cargo-carrying  ships,  aggregating  a 
deadweight  tonnage  of  2,800,000,  and  numerically  equal- 
ling the  combined  Cunard,  Hamburg-American,  and  North 
German  Lloyd  lines  at  the  outbreak  of  the  war.  Of  this 
number  227  ships  were  mainly  in  operation. 


320        SECRETARY  DANIELS'S  REPORT 

From  the  Emergency  Fleet  Corporation  the  navy  has 
taken  over  for  operation  94  new  vessels,  aggregating  700,- 
000  deadweight  tons.  On  March  21,  1918,  by  order  of 
the  President  101  Dutch  merchant  vessels  were  taken  over 
by  the  Navy  Department  pending  their  allocation  to  the 
various  vital  trades  of  this  country,  and  26  of  these  ves- 
sels are  now  a  part  of  the  naval  overseas  fleet.  This  vast 
fleet  of  cargo  vessels  has  been  officered  and  manned 
through  enrollment  of  the  seagoing  personnel  of  the 
American  merchant  marine,  officers  and  men  of  the  United 
States  Navy,  and  the  assignment  after  training  of  grad- 
uates of  technical  schools  and  training  schools,  developed 
by  the  navy  since  the  United  States  entered  the  war. 

There  are  required  for  the  operation  of  this  fleet  at  the 
present  time  5,000  officers  and  29,000  enlisted  men,  and 
adequate  arrangements  for  future  needs  of  personnel  have 
been  provided.  The  navy  has  risen  to  the  exacting  de- 
mands imposed  upon  it  by  the  war,  and  it  will  certainly 
be  a  source  of  pride  to  the  American  people  to  know  that 
within  ten  months  of  the  time  that  this  new  force  was 
created,  in  spite  of  the  many  obstacles  in  the  way  of  its 
accomplishment,  an  American  naval  vessel,  manned  by 
an  American  naval  crew,  left  an  American  port  on  the 
average  of  every  five  hours,  carrying  subsistence  and 
equipment  so  vital  to  the  American  Expeditionary  Force. 

One  of  the  agencies  adopted  during  the  war  for  more 
efficient  naval  administration  is  the  organization  and  de- 
velopment of  naval  districts. 

Secretary  Daniels,  in  other  passages  of  the  foregoing 
report,  declares  that  the  record  made  abroad  by  the  United 
States  Navy,  in  co-operation  with  the  navies  of  Great 
Britain,  France,  Italy,  and  Japan,  is  without  precedent 
in  allied  warfare.  He  pays  a  high  tribute  to  the  efficiency 


SECRETARY  DANIELS'S  REPORT        321 

of  Admiral  Sims,  Commander-in-Chief  of  American  naval 
forces  in  European  waters;  of  Rear- Admiral  Rodman,  in 
command  of  the  American  battleships  with  the  British 
fleet;  of  Vice-Admiral  Wilson,  in  France;  Rear- Admiral 
Niblack,  in  the  Mediterranean;  of  Rear- Admiral  Dunn,  in 
the  Azores;  of  Rear- Admiral  Strauss,  in  charge  of  mining 
operations,  and  other  officers  in  charge  of  various  special 
activities. 

The  report  tells  of  notable  achievements  in  ordnance, 
especially  the  work  of  the  14-inch  naval  guns  on  railway 
mounts  on  the  western  front,  which  hurled  shells  far  be- 
hind the  German  lines,  these  mounts  being  designed  and 
completed  in  four  months.  The  land  battery  of  these 
naval  guns  was  manned  exclusively  by  bluejackets  under 
command  of  Rear- Admiral  C.  P.  Plunkett.  The  work  of 
the  Bureau  of  Ordnance  is  praised,  and  Admiral  Earle, 
the  Chief  of  the  bureau,  is  declared  "one  of  the  ablest  and 
fittest  officers." 

An  account  is  given  of  the  mine  barrage  in  the  North 
Sea,  one  of  the  outstanding  anti-submarine  offensive  pro- 
jects of  the  year,  thus  closing  the  North  Sea,  and  for 
which  100,000  mines  were  manufactured  and  85,000 
shipped  abroad.  A  special  mine-loading  plant,  with  a 
capacity  of  more  than  1,000  mines  a  day,  was  established 
by  the  Navy  Department. 

A  star  shell  was  developed  which,  when  fired  in  the 
vicinity  of  an  enemy  fleet,  would  light  it  up,  make  ships 
visible,  and  render  them  easy  targets  without  disclosing 
the  position  of  our  own  ships  at  night. 

The  Bureau  of  Ordnance,  under  the  direction  of  Rear- 
Admiral  Earle,  is  stated  to  have  met  and  conquered  the 
critical  shortage  of  high  explosives  which  threatened  to 
prolong  the  time  of  preparation  necessary  for  America 


322        SECRETARY  DANIELS'S  REPORT 

to  smash  the  German  military  forces;  this  was  done  by 
the  invention  of  TNX,  a  high  explosive,  to  take  the  place 
of  TNT,  the  change  being  sufficient  to  increase  the  avail- 
able supply  of  explosives  in  this  country  to  some  30,000,- 
000  pounds. 

In  the  future,  it  is  stated,  American  dreadnoughts  and 
battle  cruisers  will  be  armed  with  16-inch  guns,  making 
these  the  heaviest  armed  vessels  in  the  world. 

Depth-charges  are  stated  to  be  the  most  effective  anti- 
submarine weapons.  American  vessels  were  adequately 
armed  with  this  new  weapon. 

A  new  type  was  developed  and  a  new  gun,  known  as 
the  "Y"  gun,  was  designed  and  built  especially  for  firing 
depth-charges. 


THE  ACHIEVEMENTS  OF  THE  MARINE 
CORPS 

BY  JOSEPHUS  DANIELS 
SECRETARY  OF  THE  NAVY 

The  United  States  Marine  Corps,  the  efficient  fighting, 
building,  and  landing  force  of  the  navy,  has  won  im- 
perishable glory  in  the  fulfilment  of  its  latest  duties  upon 
the  battlefields  of  France,  where  the  marines,  fighting  for 
the  time  under  General  Pershing  as  a  part  of  the  victori- 
ous American  Army,  have  written  a  story  of  valor  and 
sacrifice  that  will  live  in  the  brightest  annals  of  the  war. 
With  heroism  that  nothing  could  daunt,  the  Marine 
Corps  played  a  vital  role  in  stemming  the  German  rush 
on  Paris,  and  in  later  days  aided  in  the  beginning  of  the 
great  offensive,  the  freeing  of  Rheims,  and  participated 
in  the  hard  fighting  in  Champagne,  which  had  as  its  ob- 
ject the  throwing  back  of  the  Prussian  armies  in  the 
vicinity  of  Cambrai  and  St.  Quentin. 

With  only  8,000  men  engaged  in  the  fiercest  battles, 
the  Marine  Corps  casualties  numbered  69  officers  and 
1,531  enlisted  men  dead  and  78  officers  and  2,435  enlisted 
men  wounded  seriously  enough  to  be  officially  reported  by 
cablegram,  to  which  number  should  be  added  not  a  few 
whose  wounds  did  not  incapacitate  them  for  further 
fighting.  However,  with  a  casualty  list  that  numbers 
nearly  half  the  original  8,000  men  who  entered  battle, 
the  official  reports  account  for  only  57  United  States 
marines  who  have  been  captured  by  the  enemy.  This 

323 


324        SECRETARY  DANffiLS'S  REPORT 

includes  those  who  were  wounded  far  in  advance  of  their 
lines  and  who  fell  into  the  hands  of  Germans  while  unable 
to  resist. 

Memorial  Day  shall  henceforth  have  a  greater,  deeper 
significance  for  America,  for  it  was  on  that  day,  May  30, 
1918,  that  our  country  really  received  its  first  call  to 
battle — the  battle  in  which  American  troops  had  the 
honor  of  stopping  the  German  drive  on  Paris,  throwing 
back  the  Prussian  hordes  in  attack  after  attack,  and  be- 
ginning the  retreat  which  lasted  until  imperial  Germany 
was  beaten  to  its  knees  and  its  emissaries  appealing  for 
an  armistice  under  the  flag  of  truce.  And  to  the  United 
States  marines,  fighting  side  by  side  with  equally  brave 
and  equally  courageous  men  in  the  American  Army,  to 
that  faithful  sea  and  land  force  of  the  navy,  fell  the  honor 
of  taking  over  the  lines  where  the  blow  of  the  Prussian 
would  strike  the  hardest,  the  line  that  was  nearest  Paris 
and  where,  should  a  breach  occur,  all  would  be  lost. 

The  world  knows  to-day  that  the  United  States  marines 
held  that  line;  that  they  blocked  the  advance  that  was 
rolling  on  toward  Paris  at  a  rate  of  six  or  seven  miles  a 
day;  that  they  met  the  attack  in  American  fashion  and 
with  American  heroism;  that  marines  and  soldiers  of  the 
American  Army  threw  back  the  crack  guard  divisions  of 
Germany,  broke  their  advance,  and  then,  attacking,  drove 
them  back  in  the  beginning  of  a  retreat  that  was  not  to 
end  until  the  "cease  firing"  signal  sounded  for  the  end 
of  the  world's  greatest  war. 

ADVANCING  TO  BATTLE 

Having  reached  their  destination,  early  on  the  morning 
of  June  2,  they  disembarked,  stiff  and  tired  after  a  jour- 


SECRETARY  DANIELS'S  REPORT        325 

ney  of  more  than  seventy-two  miles,  but  as  they  formed 
their  lines  and  marched  onward  in  the  direction  of  the 
line  they  were  to  hold  they  were  determined  and  cheerful. 
That  evening  the  first  field  message  from  the  4th  Brigade 
to  Major-General  Omar  Bundy,  commanding  the  2d 
Division,  went  forward: 

Second  Battalion,  6th  Marines,  in  line  from  Le  Thiolet 
through  Clarembauts  Woods  to  Triangle  to  Lucy.  In- 
structed to  hold  line.  First  Battalion,  6th  Marines,  going 
into  line  from  Lucy  through  Hill  142.  Third  Battalion 
in  support  at  La  Voie  du  Chatel,  which  is  also  the  post 
command  of  the  6th  Marines.  Sixth  Machine  Gun  Bat- 
talion distributed  at  line. 

Meanwhile  the  5th  Regiment  was  moving  into  line, 
machine  guns  were  advancing,  and  the  artillery  taking  its 
position.  That  night  the  men  and  officers  of  the  marines 
slept  in  the  open,  many  of  them  in  a  field  that  was  green 
with  unharvested  wheat,  awaiting  the  time  when  they 
should  be  summoned  to  battle.  The  next  day  at  5  o'clock, 
the  afternoon  of  June  2,  began  the  battle  of  Chateau- 
Thierry,  with  the  Americans  holding  the  line  against  the 
most  vicious  wedge  of  the  German  advance. 

BATTLE  OF  CHATEAU-THIERRY 

The  advance  of  the  Germans  was  across  a  wheat  field, 
driving  at  Hill  165  and  advancing  in  smooth  columns. 
The  United  States  marines,  trained  to  keen  observation 
upon  the  rifle  range,  nearly  every  one  of  them  wearing  a 
marksman's  medal  or,  better,  that  of  the  sharpshooter  or 
expert  rifleman,  did  not  wait  for  those  gray-clad  hordes 
to  advance  nearer. 

Calmly  they  set  their  sights  and  aimed  with  the  same 


326        SECRETARY  DANIELS'S  REPORT 

precision  that  they  had  shown  upon  the  rifle  ranges  at 
Paris  Island,  Mare  Island,  and  Quantico.  Incessantly 
their  rifles  cracked,  and  with  their  fire  came  the  support 
of  the  artillery.  The  machine-gun  fire,  incessant  also, 
began  to  make  its  inroads  upon  the  advancing  forces. 
Closer  and  closer  the  shrapnel  burst  to  its  targets.  Caught 
in  a  seething  wave  of  machine-gun  fire,  of  scattering  shrap- 
nel, of  accurate  rifle  fire,  the  Germans  found  themselves 
in  a  position  in  which  further  advance  could  only  mean 
absolute  suicide.  The  lines  hesitated.  They  stopped. 
They  broke  for  cover,  while  the  marines  raked  the  woods 
and  ravines  in  which  they  had  taken  refuge  with  machine- 
gun  and  rifle  to  prevent  their  making  another  attempt  to 
advance  by  infiltrating  through. 

Above,  a  French  airplane  was  checking  up  on  the  artil- 
lery fire.  Surprised  by  the  fact  that  men  should  deliber- 
ately set  then-  sights,  adjust  their  range,  and  then  fire  de- 
liberately at  an  advancing  foe,  each  man  picking  his 
target,  instead  of  firing  merely  in  the  direction  of  the 
enemy,  the  aviator  signalled  below:  "Bravo!"  In  the 
rear  that  word  was  echoed  again  and  again.  The  Ger- 
man drive  on  Paris  had  been  stopped. 

IN  BELLEAU  WOOD 

For  the  next  few  days  the  fighting  took  on  the  character 
of  pushing  forth  outposts  and  determining  the  strength 
of  the  enemy.  Now,  the  fighting  had  changed.  The 
Germans,  mystified  that  they  should  have  run  against 
a  stone  wall  of  defense  just  when  they  believed  that  their 
advance  would  be  easiest,  had  halted,  amazed;  then  pre- 
pared to  defend  the  positions  they  had  won  with  all  the 
stubbornness  possible.  In  the  black  recesses  of  Belleau 


SECRETARY  DANIELS'S  REPORT        327 

Wood  the  Germans  had  established  nest  after  nest  of 
machine  guns.  There  in  the  jungle  of  matted  under- 
brush, of  vines,  of  heavy  foliage,  they  had  placed  them- 
selves in  positions  they  believed  impregnable.  And  this 
meant  that  unless  they  could  be  routed,  unless  they  could 
be  thrown  back,  the  breaking  of  the  attack  of  June  2 
would  mean  nothing.  There  would  come  another  drive 
and  another.  The  battle  of  Chateau-Thierry  was  there- 
fore not  won  and  could  not  be  won  until  Belleau  Wood 
had  been  cleared  of  the  enemy. 

It  was  June  6  that  the  attack  of  the  American  troops 
began  against  that  wood  and  its  adjacent  surroundings, 
with  the  wood  itself  and  the  towns  of  Torcy  and  Bour- 
esches  forming  the  objectives.  At  5  o'clock  the  attack 
came,  and  there  began  the  tremendous  sacrifices  which 
the  Marine  Corps  gladly  suffered  that  the  German  fight- 
ers might  be  thrown  back. 


The  marines  fought  strictly  according  to  American 
methods — a  rush,  a  halt,  a  rush  again,  in  four-wave 
formation,  the  rear  waves  taking  over  the  work  of  those 
who  had  fallen  before  them,  passing  over  the  bodies  of 
their  dead  comrades  and  plunging  ahead,  until  they,  too, 
should  be  torn  to  bits.  But  behind  those  waves  were 
more  waves,  and  the  attack  went  on. 

"Men  fell  like  flies,"  the  expression  is  that  of  an  officer 
writing  from  the  field.  Companies  that  had  entered  the 
battle  250  strong  dwindled  to  50  and  60,  with  a  Sergeant 
in  command;  but  the  attack  did  not  falter.  At  9.45 
o'clock  that  night  Bouresches  was  taken  by  Lieutenant 
James  F.  Robertson  and  twenty-odd  men  of  his  platoon; 


328        SECRETARY  DAXIELS'S  REPORT 

these  soon  were  joined  by  two  reinforcing  platoons. 
Then  came  the  enemy  counter-attacks,  but  the  marines 
held. 

In  Belleau  Wood  the  fighting  had  been  literally  from 
tree  to  tree,  stronghold  to  stronghold;  and  it  was  a  fight 
which  must  last  for  weeks  before  its  accomplishment  in 
victory.  Belleau  Wood  was  a  jungle,  its  every  rocky 
formation  containing  a  German  machine-gun  nest,  almost 
impossible  to  reach  by  artillery  or  grenade  fire.  There 
was  only  one  way  to  wipe  out  these  nests — by  the  bayonet. 
And  by  this  method  were  they  wiped  out,  for  United 
States  marines,  bare-chested,  shouting  their  battle-cry  of 
"E-e-e-e-e  y-a-a-h-h-h  yip!"  charged  straight  into*  the 
murderous  fire  from  those  guns,  and  won ! 

Out  of  the  number  that  charged,  in  more  than  one  in- 
stance, only  one  would  reach  the  stronghold.  There,  with 
his  bayonet  as  his  only  weapon,  he  would  either  kill  or 
capture  the  defenders  of  the  nest,  and  then  swinging  the 
gun  about  in  its  position,  turn  it  against  the  remaining 
German  positions  in  the  forest.  Such  was  the  character 
of  the  fighting  in  Belleau  Wood;  fighting  which  continued 
until  July  6,  when  after  a  short  relief  the  invincible  Amer- 
icans finally  were  taken  back  to  the  rest  billet  for  re- 
cuperation. 

HELD  THE  LINE  FOR  DAYS 

In  all  the  history  of  the  Marine  Corps  there  is  no  such 
battle  as  that  one  in  Belleau  Wood.  Fighting  day  and 
night  without  relief,  without  sleep,  often  without  water, 
and  for  days  without  hot  rations,  the  marines  met  and 
defeated  the  best  divisions  that  Germany  could  throw 
into  the  line. 

The  heroism  and  doggedness  of  that  battle  are  un- 


SECRETARY  DANIELS'S  REPORT        329 

paralleled.  Time  after  time  officers  seeing  their  lines 
cut  to  pieces,  seeing  their  men  so  dog-tired  that  they  even 
fell  asleep  under  shellfire,  hearing  their  wounded  calling 
for  the  water  they  were  unable  to  supply,  seeing  men 
fight  on  after  they  had  been  wounded  and  until  they 
dropped  unconscious;  time  after  time  officers  seeing  these 
things,  believing  that  the  very  limit  of  human  endurance 
had  been  reached,  would  send  back  messages  to  their  post 
command  that  their  men  were  exhausted.  But  in  an- 
swer to  this  would  come  the  word  that  the  line  must  hold, 
and,  if  possible,  those  lines  must  attack.  And  the  lines 
obeyed.  Without  water,  without  food,  without  rest, 
they  went  forward — and  forward  every  time  to  victory. 
Companies  had  been  so  torn  and  lacerated  by  losses  that 
they  were  hardly  platoons,  but  they  held  their  lines  and 
advanced  them.  In  more  than  one  case  companies  lost 
every  officer,  leaving  a  Sergeant  and  sometimes  a  Corporal 
to  command,  and  the  advance  continued. 

After  thirteen  days  in  this  inferno  of  fire  a  captured 
German  officer  told  with  his  dying  breath  of  a  fresh  divi- 
sion of  Germans  that  was  about  to  be  thrown  into  the 
battle  to  attempt  to  wrest  from  the  marines  that  part  of 
the  wood  they  had  gained.  The  marines,  who  for  days 
had  been  fighting  only  on  their  sheer  nerve,  who  had  been 
worn  out  from  nights  of  sleeplessness,  from  lack  of  ra- 
tions, from  terrific  shell  and  machine-gun  fire,  straight- 
ened their  lines  and  prepared  for  the  attack.  It  came — 
as  the  dying  German  officer  had  predicted. 

At  2  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  June  13  it  was  launched 
by  the  Germans  along  the  whole  front.  Without  regard 
for  men,  the  enemy  hurled  his  forces  against  Bouresches 
and  the  Bois  de  Belleau,  and  sought  to  win  back  what 
had  been  taken  from  Germany  by  the  Americans.  The 


330        SECRETARY  DANIELS'S  REPORT 

orders  were  that  these  positions  must  be  taken  at  all  costs; 
that  the  utmost  losses  in  men  must  be  endured  that  the 
Bois  de  Belleau  and  Bouresches  might  fall  again  into  Ger- 
man hands.  But  the  depleted  lines  of  the  marines  held; 
the  men  who  had  fought  on  their  nerve  alone  for  days 
once  more  showed  the  mettle  of  which  they  were  made. 
With  their  backs  to  the  trees  and  boulders  of  the  Bois  de 
Belleau,  with  their  sole  shelter  the  scattered  ruins  of  Bour- 
esches, the  thinning  lines  of  the  marines  repelled  the 
attack  and  crashed  back  the  new  division  which  had 
sought  to  wrest  the  position  from  them. 

And  so  it  went.  Day  after  day,  night  after  night, 
while  time  after  time  messages  like  the  following  travelled 
to  the  post  command: 

Losses  heavy.  Difficult  to  get  runners  through.  Some 
have  never  returned.  Morale  excellent,  but  troops  about 
all  in.  Men  exhausted. 

Exhausted,  but  holding  on.  And  they  continued  to 
hold  on  in  spite  of  every  difficulty.  Advancing  their 
lines  slowly  day  by  day,  the  marines  finally  prepared 
their  positions  to  such  an  extent  that  the  last  rush  for  the 
possession  of  the  wood  could  be  made.  Then,  on  June 
24,  following  a  tremendous  barrage,  the  struggle  began. 

The  barrage  literally  tore  the  woods  to  pieces,  but  even 
its  immensity  could  not  wipe  out  all  the  nests  that  re- 
mained, the  em  placements  that  were  behind  almost  every 
clump  of  bushes,  every  jagged,  rough  group  of  boulders. 
But  those  that  remained  were  wiped  out  by  the  American 
method  of  the  rush  and  the  bayonet,  and  in  the  days  that 
followed  every  foot  of  Belleau  Wood  was  cleared  of  the 
enemy  and  held  by  the  frayed  lines  of  the  Americans. 

It  was,  therefore,  with  the  feeling  of  work  well  done 
that  the  depleted  lines  of  the  marines  were  relieved  in 


SECRETARY  DANIELS'S  REPORT        331 

July,  that  they  might  be  filled  with  replacements  and 
made  ready  for  a  grand  offensive  in  the  vicinity  of  Sois- 
sons,  July  18.  And  in  recognition  of  their  sacrifice  and 
bravery  this  praise  was  forthcoming  from  the  French: 

ARMY  HEADQUARTERS,  June  30,  1918. 
In  view  of  the  brilliant  conduct  of  the  Fourth  Brigade 
of  the  Second  United  States  Division,  which  in  a  spirited 
fight  took  Bouresches  and  the  important  strong  point  of 
Bois  de  Belleau,  stubbornly  defended  by  a  large  enemy 
force,  the  General  commanding  the  Sixth  Army  orders 
that  henceforth,  in  all  official  papers,  the  Bois  de  Belleau 
shall  be  named  "Bois  de  la  Brigade  de  Marine." 

DIVISION  GENERAL  DEGOUTTE, 

Commanding  Sixth  Army. 

On  July  18  the  marines  were  again  called  into  action 
in  the  vicinity  of  Soissons,  near  Tigny  and  Vierzy.  In  the 
face  of  a  murderous  fire  from  concentrated  machine  guns, 
which  contested  every  foot  of  their  advance,  the  United 
States  marines  moved  forward  until  the  severity  of  their 
casualties  necessitated  that  they  dig  in  and  hold  the  posi- 
tions they  had  gained.  Here,  again,  their  valor  called 
forth  official  praise. 

Then  came  the  battle  for  the  St.  Mihiel  salient.  On  the 
night  of  September  11  the  2d  Division  took  over  a  line 
running  from  Remenauville  to  Limey,  and  on  the  night 
of  September  14  and  the  morning  of  September  15  at- 
tacked, with  two  days'  objectives  ahead  of  them.  Over- 
coming the  enemy  resistance,  they  romped  through  to 
the  Rupt  de  Mad,  a  small  river,  crossed  it  on  stone  bridges, 
occupied  Thiaucourt,  the  first  day's  objective,  scaled  the 


332        SECRETARY  DANIELS'S  REPORT 

heights  just  beyond  it,  pushed  on  to  a  line  running  from 
the  Zammes-Joulney  Ridges  to  the  Binvaux  Forest,  and 
there  rested,  with  the  second  day's  objectives  occupied 
by  2.50  o'clock  of  the  first  day.  The  casualties  of  the  di- 
vision were  about  1,000,  of  which  134  were  killed.  Of 
these,  about  half  were  marines.  The  captures  in  which 
the  marines  participated  were  80  German  officers,  3,200 
men,  ninety-odd  cannon,  and  vast  stores. 

But  even  further  honors  were  to  befall  the  fighting, 
landing,  and  building  force,  of  which  the  navy  is  justly 
proud.  In  the  early  part  of  October  it  became  necessary 
for  the  Allies  to  capture  the  bald,  jagged  ridge  twenty 
miles  due  east  of  Rheims,  known  as  Blanc  Mont  Ridge. 
Here  the  armies  of  Germany  and  the  Allies  had  clashed 
more  than  once,  and  attempt  after  attempt  had  been 
made  to  wrest  it  from  German  hands.  It  was  a  keystone 
of  the  German  defense,  the  fall  of  which  would  have  a 
far-reaching  effect  upon  the  enemy  armies.  To  the  glory 
of  the  United  States  marines,  let  it  be  said  that  they  were 
again  a  part  of  that  splendid  2d  Division  which  swept 
forward  in  the  attack  which  freed  Blanc  Mont  Ridge 
from  German  hands,  pushed  its  way  down  the  slopes,  and 
occupied  the  level  around  just  beyond,  thus  assuring  a 
victory,  the  full  import  of  which  can  best  be  judged  by 
the  order  of  General  Lejeune,  following  the  battle: 

FRANCE,  Oct.  11,  1918. 
OFFICERS  AND  MEN  OF  THE  2o  DIVISION: 

It  is  beyond  my  power  of  expression  to  describe  fitly 
my  admiration  for  your  heroism.  You  attacked  mag- 
nificently and  you  seized  Blanc  Mont  Ridge,  the  keystone 
of  the  arch  constituting  the  enemy's  main  position.  You 
advanced  beyond  the  ridge,  breaking  the  enemy's  lines, 


SECRETARY  DANIELS'S  REPORT        333 

and  you  held  the  ground  gained  with  a  tenacity  which  is 
unsurpassed  in  the  annals  of  war. 

As  a  direct  result  of  your  victory,  the  German  armies 
east  and  west  of  Rheims  are  in  full  retreat,  and  by  draw- 
ing on  yourselves  several  German  divisions  from  other 
parts  of  the  front  you  greatly  assisted  the  victorious  ad- 
vance of  the  allied  armies  between  Cambrai  and  St. 
Quentin. 

Your  heroism  and  the  heroism  of  our  comrades  who  died 
on  the  battlefield  will  live  in  history  forever,  and  will  be 
emulated  by  the  young  men  of  our  country  for  generations 
to  come. 

To  be  able  to  say  when  this  war  is  finished,  "I  belonged 
to  the  2d  Division;  I  fought  with  it  at  the  battle  of  Blanc 
Mont  Ridge,"  will  be  the  highest  honor  that  can  come  to 
any  man. 

JOHN  A.  LEJEUNE. 

Major-General,  United  States  Marine  Corps,  Command- 
ing. 

Thus  it  is  that  the  United  States  marines  have  fulfilled 
the  glorious  traditions  of  their  corps  in  this  their  latest 
duty  as  the  "soldiers  who  go  to  sea."  Their  sharpshoot- 
ing — and  in  one  regiment  93  per  cent  of  the  men  wear  the 
medal  of  a  marksman,  a  sharpshooter,  or  an  expert  rifle- 
man— has  amazed  soldiers  of  European  armies,  accus- 
tomed merely  to  shooting  in  the  general  direction  of  the 
enemy.  Under  the  fiercest  fire  they  have  calmly  adjusted 
their  sights,  aimed  for  their  man,  and  killed  him,  and  in 
bayonet  attacks  their  advance  on  machine-gun  nests  has 
been  irresistible. 

In  the  official  citation  lists  more  than  one  American 
marine  is  credited  with  taking  an  enemy  machine-gun 


334        SECRETARY  DANIELS'S  REPORT 

single-handed,  bayoneting  its  crew,  and  then  turning  the 
gun  against  the  foe.  In  one  battle  alone,  that  of  Belleau 
Wood,  the  citation  lists  bear  the  names  of  fully  500  United 
States  marines  who  so  distinguished  themselves  in  battle 
as  to  call  forth  the  official  commendation  of  their  superior 
officers. 

More  than  faithful  in  every  emergency,  accepting 
hardships  with  admirable  morale,  proud  of  the  honor  of 
taking  their  place  as  shock  troops  for  the  American 
legions,  they  have  fulfilled  every  glorious  tradition  of 
their  corps,  and  they  have  given  to  the  world  a  list  of 
heroes  whose  names  will  go  down  to  all  history. 

To  Secretary  Daniels's  narrative  may  be  added  a  brief 
account  of  the  terms  in  which  the  French  official  journal 
cited  the  4>th  American  Brigade  under  Brigadier-General 
Harbord  on  December  8. 

The  brigade  comprised  the  5th  Regiment  of  marines, 
under  Colonel  (now  Brigadier-General)  Wendel  C.  Veille; 
the  6th  marines,  under  Colonel  (now  Brigadier-General) 
Albertus  A.  Catlin,  and  the  6th  Machine  Gun  Battalion, 
under  Major  Edward  B.  Cole.  The  citation  says  the 
brigade,  in  full  battle  array,  was  thrown  on  a  front  which 
the  enemy  was  attacking  violently  and  at  once  proved 
itself  a  unit  of  the  finest  quality.  It  crushed  the  enemy 
attack  on  an  important  point  of  the  position,  and  then 
undertook  a  series  of  offensive  operations: 

"During  these  operations,  thanks  to  the  brilliant  cour- 
age, vigor,  dash,  and  tenacity  of  its  men,  who  refused  to 
be  disheartened  by  fatigue  or  losses;  thanks  to  the  ac- 
tivity and  energy  of  the  officers,  and  thanks  to  the  per- 
sonal action  of  Brigadier-General  Harbord,  the  efforts  of 
the  brigade  were  crowned  with  success,  realizing  after 


SECRETARY  DANIELS'S  REPORT        335 

twelve  days  of  incessant  struggle  an  important  advance 
over  the  most  difficult  of  terrain  and  the  capture  of  two 
support  points  of  the  highest  importance,  Bouresches 
village  and  the  fortified  wood  of  Belleau." 


DATE  DUE 


A     000  865  339     6 


